The denunciations of this vice by the reformers and also in medieval penitentials and decretal literature are related to the association of sodomy with priests and monks. Jordan fails to take into account the context of the eleventh century reformers and the then recent, scandalous history of the papacy. Jordan disputes the logical consistency of Alan s interpretation of the laws of nature. Alan conceived his argument in terms of natural law and exhibited a fondness for grammatical metaphors. Like most medieval thinkers, Alan saw a connection between grammar and nature.
Sodomy upsets the natural order of verbs, predicates, and noun declensions.
Jordan is clearly more comfortable when considering the works of St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas. For St. Albert homosexual intercourse is a sin against grace, reason, and nature. A close reading of several scholastic texts with an eye toward holes in the argument suffers from the same flaws as Jordan s earlier treatment of monastic authors. Insufficient attention is paid to the historical and cultural contexts of these arguments. He notes that Christian moral teaching has undergone sea changes in other areas for example, the ethics of slavery and the conduct of war.