Aquinas and the Supreme Court: Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas's Biblical Commentaries

"In court opinions, blogs, public debates, and theological arguments, the concept of what is 'natural' to us remains a highly debated concept, with Thomas Aquinas one of the most frequently cited figures."   In his recently published book, Aquinas and the Supreme Court: Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas's Biblical Commentaries, Eugene Rogers, professor of Religious Studies, "makes the breathtaking argument that Thomas Aquinas does not, in fact, say what you think he says on the topic of natural law, nature, and what is appropriate to humans as natural" (Myles Werntz, Baylor University).

"Eight centuries after he lectured on the Bible, both advocates and critics agree that Aquinas remains the most influential “natural law” philosopher. Lawmakers, judges, pundits, and clergy deploy natural-law reasoning on all manner of public issues, from gender roles to just war; the US Supreme Court still cites Aquinas on abortion and homosexuality" (Wiley).

"Rogers critiques turn-of-the-21^st century natural law theory by its founding text, using Aquinas's own commentaries on the bible. Exploring newly translated, or untranslated commentaries, Rogers compares the passages where Aquinas’s systematic works quote the Bible with the biblical commentaries on the passages which are cited. A very different understanding of natural law emerges in which Aquinas embeds all law, even natural law, not in a particular logic, but in a particular story. The commentaries describe a nature that differs by ethnicity, varies over time, and changes sexuality by God’s decree. This challenges current understandings and uses of Aquinas’s natural law from both sides of the debate, both liberal and conservative" (Wiley).

In the book, "Rogers uses Aquinas's biblical commentary to argue that Aquinas's sense of the natural law is deeply theological, known only to humans who participate in it via the grace of the Triune God, as conceived of by Christianity.  Rogers shows that legal and political uses of natural law are not faithful to Thomas's theological teachings unless they are set within the theological context" (Choice, November 2013).

"Issues of the naturalness of gender and sexuality are woven through Rogers’ reflections, complicating both Thomas’ use within the legal system and within Christian arguments about what is natural. Too often, as Rogers points out, Christian reflections upon ‘nature’ repeat the errors of natural lawyers in assuming that 1) nature is self-evident and 2) nature is unchanging. If what is ‘natural’, according to Thomas (following Paul) is a work of the Spirit, then nature is neither one. Rather, our discussions of natural life—while learning from our observations and from reason—cannot be ultimately governed by reason, but led by the Spirit’s revealing and restoring work" (Myles Werntz, Baylor University).

“In this well documented and lucidly argued book we discover that what might seem purely arcane medieval scholarship cuts decisively into matters of currently great human concern" (Fergus Kerr, University of Edinburgh).

“This book will be particularly useful for graduate students in philosophy and theology.  Summing Up: Recommended" (Choice, November 2013).

All the Dead Yale Men

Craig Nova, Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at UNCG and one of "the best American novelists" according to John Irving, recently published All the Dead Yale Men, the greatly anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed 1982 novel The Good Son.  His earlier novel recounts the story of World War II veteran Chip Mckinnon and his tenuous relationship with his socially ambitious father.  "Pop" Mckinnon compels his son to forsake his true love in order to marry well and persuades him to pursue an Ivy League education and a career in law.

All the Dead Yale Men rejoins the Mckinnon clan a generation later, with Frank Mckinnon, Chip's son, and his brilliant daughter Pia.  Frank is a happily married criminal prosecutor in Boston, and his daughter Pia is poised to enter Harvard law school, following in both her grandfather and her father's footsteps.  However, Frank's vision for his daughter's life (and his own by association) is jeopardized when Pia contemplates abandoning her career aspirations for a local ne'er do well.  Both novels examine parental expectations and ambitions for their children and the lengths that a parent will go in order to preserve them. 

All the Dead Yale Men is a "gripping and intelligent chronicle of love, legacy, and betrayal (the title may suggest a genre mystery, which this surely isn’t).  [It] captures a complex clan entangled in a questionable moral universe. Nova’s Mackinnons, both here and in The Good Son, leave their edgy mark on the modern American literary landscape" (Mark Levine, Booklist).

 “Craig Nova is a fine writer, one of our best.  If you haven’t read him, the loss is yours."  (Jonathan Yardley, book critic for the Washington Post)

Nova's writing has appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, and Men's Journal, among others. He has received an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2005 he was named Class of 1949 Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Preventing College Student Suicide

Dr. Deborah Taub, Professor in UNCG's Teacher Education and Higher Education Department, recently co-edited Preventing College Student Suicide: New Directions for Student Services, Number 141.  She is also a co-author of several of the chapters included in the book, which focuses on the growing problem of student suicide on college campuses across the country and preventative measures that can be implemented by administrators, advisers, and other student services professionals. 

"The book begins with a general overview of the problem, reviews possible approaches to the issue, then looks more closely at specific target populations, before ending with a discussion of post-suicide intervention options" (Dr. Christine R. Cook).  "Chapter topics include gatekeeper training, peer education, diversity, LGBT issues, postvention, college student suicide, and the public health approach to suicide prevention" (Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC)).  "One of the most beneficial aspects of the book is the reference to various suicide prevention materials. There is a helpful table of resources in chapter 2, a web link for a multicultural suicide prevention kit in chapter 6, and an example of a post-suicide intervention protocol in chapter 7. The final chapter ends with a list of website resources including the Jed Foundation and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, which are referenced throughout the book" (Dr. Christine R. Cook).

"Since 2005, 138 colleges and universities have received funding under the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act to develop and implement campus suicide prevention programs" (Wiley/Jossey-Bass).  Each chapter in the book was written by Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) grantee authors, and both Deborah Taub and her co-editor, Jason Robertson are also GLS grantees.  "This volume highlights successful strategies implemented by grantee campuses, [and] these approaches can serve as models to address student suicide and prevention on other campuses" (Wiley/Jossey-Bass).

Deborah

James Weldon Johnson's Modern Soundscapes

 Associate Professor of African American literature, Dr. Noelle Morrissette, recently published James Weldon Johnson's Modern Soundscapes, which "provides an evocative and meticulously researched study of one of the best known and yet least understood authors of the New Negro Renaissance era" (University of Iowa Press).

"Johnson, familiar to many as an early civil rights leader active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and an intentionally controversial writer on the subject of the significance of race in America, was one of the most prolific, wide-ranging, and yet elusive authors of twentieth-century African American literature.  Drawing on archival materials such as early manuscript notes and drafts of Johnson’s unpublished and published work, Morrissette explores the author’s complex aesthetic of sound, based on black expressive culture and cosmopolitan interracial experiences" (University of Iowa Press).

"Johnson realized early in his writing career that he could draw attention to the struggles of African Americans by using unconventional literary methods such as the incorporation of sound into his texts. In this groundbreaking work, literary critic Noelle Morrissette examines how his literary representation of the extremes of sonic experience—functioning as either cultural violence or creative force—draws attention to the mutual contingencies and the interdependence of American and African American cultures. Moreover, Morrissette argues, Johnson represented these “American sounds” as a source of multiplicity and diversity, often developing a framework for the interracial transfer of sound. The lyricist and civil rights leader used sound as a formal aesthetic practice in and between his works, presenting it as an unbounded cultural practice that is as much an interracial as it is a racially distinct cultural history" (University of Iowa Press).

"The result is an innovative new interpretation of the works of one of the early twentieth century’s most important and controversial writers and civil rights leaders" (Project Muse).  “Noelle Morrissette brings to the forefront an undervalued aspect of Johnson’s amazing career—his attempt to bridge the separation between black political activism and black popular culture. Impressively informed but quite accessible and engaging, James Weldon Johnson’s Modern Soundscapes is an authoritative reconsideration of critical approaches to Johnson. I expect it to be quickly established as one of the essential books for anyone interested in Johnson, and an important methodological model for any scholar working in this period of American cultural history" (John Ernest, University of Delaware).

Miriam Thaggert, Associate Professor of English at The University of Iowa, declares it “an engaging, thought-provoking book... [and] an important work in African American literary studies, American studies, and the growing field of sound studies.”

Fallen Forests

 

"In 1844, Lydia Sigourney asserted, 'Man's warfare on the trees is terrible.' Like Sigourney, many American women of her day engaged with such issues as sustainability, resource wars, globalization, voluntary simplicity, Christian ecology, and environmental justice" (UGA Press).

In her recently published book, Fallen Forests, English Professor Karen Kilcup examines nineteenth century American women's environmental writing "to show how women writers have drawn on their literary emotional intelligence to raise readers' consciousness about social and environmental issues" (UGA Press).  Kilcup's extensive research on the subject encompasses a wide range of female voices, including those from marginalized communities, such as Native American, African American, Mexican American, working class, and non-Protestant.  Her analysis extends beyond traditional texts to incorporate Native American speeches, travel writing, slave narratives, and diaries and illustrates their influence on environmental debates of the time.

"Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and brilliantly argued, Fallen Forests is a major contribution to ecocriticism and to the study of nineteenth century American women writers more broadly.  [It is] a remarkably dexterous and insightful work of ecocritical scholarship" (Michael P. Branch).

Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America

Karen A. Weyler, Associate Professor of American Literature in the English Department, recently published, Empowering Words: Outsiders & Authorship in Early America.  In her book, Dr. Weyler "explores how outsiders used ephemeral formats such as broadsides, pamphlets, and newspapers to publish poetry, captivity narratives, formal addresses, and other genres with wide appeal in early America" (University of Georgia Press)

Marginalized and repressed populations from this time period understood the social power and influence of the written word and sought outlets for self expression as a means of communication and connection.  "To gain access to print, outsiders collaborated with amanuenses and editors, inserted their stories into popular genres and cheap media, tapped into existing social and religious networks, and sought sponsors and patrons" (University of Georgia Press).  "Empowering Words compels us to expand our definitions of agency, authorship, literacy, and literature to encompass the unlikely men and women who populated the world of print in early America" (Vincent Carretta, author of Phillis Wheatley: Biography of a Genius in Bondage).

"Using an innovative and persuasive approach, as well as much new material, Empowering Words reveals that slaves, women, and other marginalized groups shrewdly manipulated mainstream culture and not only wrote but published themselves into being during the early national period. The book will be an invaluable resource for scholars interested in class, gender, identity, race, and print culture."—Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, author of The War in Words: Reading the Dakota Conflict through the Captivity Literature 

Click here to see Jackson Library's catalog record of the book.  The library has both a print edition as well as an ebook available!

Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture

Spanish Professor Laura Chesak provided the translation for Juana Suarez's Critical Essays on Colombian Cinema and Culture: Cinembargo Colombia, which was published in August 2012. Suarez is a Latin American cinema, visual culture, and literature scholar, whose recent research focuses on the interdisciplinary study of Colombian film through historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives.

Through her examination of Colombian films, particularly those produced as a result of the 2003 Law of Cinema, Suarez addresses the issues of pervasive violence, race and gender relations, class, and power in the nation and their portrayal in Colombian cinema.  She places her analysis in its proper political and social context, and argues for the use of this artistic medium as a means of national reflection.  Colombian cinema has historically played a minimal role in the international film market, with only a limited number receiving international awards or accolades, and Suarez considers its future possibilities in this arena.

She "undertakes to examine with critical insight the most important texts of Colombian film making. Her work is geared toward those films that have become part of a Latin American and international canon, those texts that have attracted significant critical attention and that are most likely to be used in courses on Latin American film or in courses in which Latin American film is part of a larger thematic or modular focus. Focusing on key texts, Suarez examines them in interpretive depth, with full attention to theoretical issues they raise in filmmaking and in cultural studies. Her coverage is a judicious balance between historical considerations and actual textual analyses, between a discussion of questions relevant to the film industry in Colombia and the cultural contexts of specific texts." David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State University

"Dense but fascination reading, this [is] a book for specialists in film studies, Latin American studies, and cultural studies.  Suarez writes with solid theoretical grounding regarding both feature films and documentaries by Colombian cineasts.  Summing Up: Highly recommended."  CHOICE