The Church in an Age of Human Rights

This article reviews the complex origins of modern human rights discourse, and the diversity of views hidden within that discourse. It suggests that the Christian Church should locate itself within this complexity by way of four basic categories: as beneficiary of human rights; as object of human rights obligations; as promoter of public justice; and as exemplar of a community of human flourishing. In each case, there needs to be a careful appropriation and critique of the language and reasoning of human rights.