An astute case for Catholic engagement with human rights for all
Human rights should protect the dignity and well-being of all people. But in today’s deeply divided world, some argue that cultural differences and economic inequality undermine their universality.
In Human Rights in a Divided World, David Hollenbach offers a comprehensive and cohesive analysis of the challenges to human rights, suggesting that today’s global realities call for important developments rooted in Catholic ethics. This work of theological social ethics draws on a range of disciplines to address the question of whether or not human rights remain valid as universal standards for action in a multicultural, religiously pluralistic, and economically unequal world. Hollenbach provides a compelling account of the contribution that Catholic ethics and practice make to an unequal world. He applies the proposed understanding of human rights to several issues that are much debated today, including religious freedom, the rights of refugees and other forced migrants, economic rights in the face of significant inequality, and the rights of women.
Human Rights in a Divided World offers a clear path forward for the church in its engagement with politics and guidance for students of human rights as well as those working to advance them.
Reviews
"David Hollenbach has long been one of the most important human rights scholars in the English-speaking world. His new book is a major contribution to the study of—and essential reading for anyone interested in—the contemporary Catholic Church's theory of human rights and the contemporary Catholic community's practice of human rights. The book's concluding argument—that the magisterium of the Church needs to go further than it has in affirming the human rights of women—is compelling."—Michael J. Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus, Emory University, and author of Interrogating the Morality of Human Rights
"In this accomplished collection David Hollenbach displays the breadth of his scholarship and the depth of his wisdom. He charts the multiple intersectional assaults on dignity that millions of people around the world endure, and he insists that the demands of Christian witness require an ethic grounded in the solidarity of human rights. Insightful and compassionate, this work provides grounds for hope in a divided world."—Linda Hogan, professor of ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin
About the Author
David Hollenbach, SJ, is the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, a senior fellow of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and an affiliated professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. He is the author of several books, including The Global Face of Public Faith (GUP, 2004) and Humanity in Crisis (GUP, 2019).
