Human Rights in a Divided World

"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

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.