AQUINAS AND THE SUPREME COURT Challenges in Contemporary Theology Series Editors: Gareth Jones and Lewis Ayres Canterbury Christ Church University College, UK and University of Durham, UK Challenges in Contemporary Theology is a series aimed at producing clear orientations in, and research on, areas of “challenge” in contemporary theology. These carefully co-ordinated books engage traditional theological concerns with mainstreams in modern thought and culture that challenge those concerns. The “challenges” implied are to be understood in two senses: those presented by society to contemporary theology, and those posed by theology to society. Published These Three are One: Christ and Culture The Practice of Trinitarian Theology Graham Ward David S. Cunningham Theology in the Public Square: After Writing: Church, Academy and Nation On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy Gavin D’Costa Catherine Pickstock Rewritten Theology: Mystical Theology: Aquinas After His Readers The Integrity of Spirituality and Theology Mark D. Jordan Mark A. McIntosh God’s Companions: Engaging Scripture: Reimagining Christian Ethics A Model for Theological Interpretation Samuel Wells Stephen E. Fowl The Trial of the Witnesses: Torture and Eucharist: The Rise and Decline of Postliberal Theology Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ Paul J. DeHart William T. Cavanaugh Theology and Families Sexuality and the Christian Body: Adrian Thatcher Their Way into the Triune God Eugene F. Rogers, Jr The Shape of Theology On Christian Theology David F. Ford Rowan Williams The Vietnam War and Theologies of Memory The Promised End: Jonathan Tran Eschatology in Theology and Literature Paul S. Fiddes In Adams Fall: A Meditation on the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Powers and Submissions: Ian A. McFarland Spirituality, Philosophy, and Gender Sarah Coakley Divine Illumination: The History and Future of Augustine’s Theory of Knowledge A Theology of Engagement Lydia Schumacher Ian S. Markham Towards a Jewish-Muslim-Christian Theology Alien Sex: David B. Burrell The Body and Desire in Cinema and Theology Gerard Loughlin Scriptural Interpretation Darren Sarisky Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology Rethinking Christian Identity: Matthew Levering Doctrine and Discipleship Medi Ann Volpe Faith and Freedom: An Interfaith Perspective Aquinas and the Supreme Court: David Burrell Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas’s Biblical Commentaries Keeping God’s Silence Eugene F. Rogers, Jr Rachel Muers Natura comparatur ad caritatem . . . sicut materia ad formam. Nature is compared to charity . . . as matter to form. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, II-II.2.9 ad 1 r  o F 2.  3 4 a.  c e,  m o R n  i a  n bi a S a  nt Saes of mag est portal History I e wArt  th/  ve es  oy ba aH ption Holly  nscri©  cation iclusion.  din eo dC ng ee  nkiy s aics flamentar osm Mo c AQUINAS AND THE SUPREME COURT Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas’s Biblical Commentaries Eugene F. Rogers, Jr A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication This edition first published 2013 © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Wiley-Blackwell is an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, formed by the merger of Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Eugene F. Rogers, Jr to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. 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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rogers, Eugene F.   Aquinas and the Supreme Court : Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in Thomas’s Biblical Commentaries / Eugene F. Rogers Jr.       pages cm   Includes bibliographical references and index.   ISBN 978-1-118-39116-7 (cloth) 1. Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, 1225?-1274. 2. Natural law. I. Title.   B765.T54R623 2013   189′.4–dc23 2012046976 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cover image: Ecclesia ex gentibus and Ecclesia ex circumcisione, details of 5th century mosaic in the church of Santa Sabina, Rome. © Holly Hayes / Art History Images Cover design by Workhaus Set in 11.5/13 pt Bembo by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited 1 2013 For my father, who wanted me to be a lawyer