Berkley Center

In today’s deeply divided world, some argue that cultural differences and economic inequality undermine the universality of human rights. Berkley Center Senior Fellow Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J., offers a comprehensive and cohesive analysis of these challenges to human rights in his new book, Human Rights in a Divided World (2024).

For a September 18 book launch event, Hollenbach was joined in conversation by a group of colleagues and friends: Cathleen Kaveny, Darald and Juliet Libby Professor at Boston College; Rev. A. E. Orobator, S.J., dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University; and Michael Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law Emeritus at Emory University.

Berkley Center Director Thomas Banchoff introduced Hollenbach as a leading human rights scholar and set the stage for the evening's discussion.

“In a world marked by the crisis of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism, a world in which the reality of universal human rights appears on the defensive, where do we go from here?”

An Academic Discipline and a Gospel Imperative

Situated at the intersection of scholarly theory and living faith, the crux of Hollenbach’s book is the idea that today’s global realities call for important developments rooted in Catholic ethics.

In his opening remarks, Hollenbach traced this logic to the biblical commandment to love one’s neighbor, as well as the secular, Aristotelian notion of humans as animals who all participate in the polis. The throughline is participation in community.

“Human rights interpreted that way,” Hollenbach argued, “can make a very important contribution to healing some of the rifts that are dividing our world.”

Orobator remarked on how the book allowed him to answer the question of what makes human rights human, not an esoteric or disembodied topic but one that affects real people. Catholicism, he said, identifies a set of foundational principles and values: dignity, solidarity, common good, and equality.

“These become the raw material of a foundation of rights. And these humanize and put faces on the pursuit and promise of justice and human rights in a globalized world.”

Participation in Community

Drawing upon this communal orientation of Catholicism, Hollenbach pushed back against the notion that human rights are too individualistic. He referenced Thomas Aquinas, who believed that justice aims to create a community where people can share what they need for their well-being.

“Human dignity, in other words, is not simply a matter of being left alone, but of being part of the human community.”

Kaveny further explored this idea through virtue theory, which traditionally centers the perspective of the agent. Human rights language, she affirmed, switches the focus to the person affected by the action. While this approach may be effective when advocating for basic human rights such as food and shelter, Kaveny highlighted tensions around religious freedom.

“I think the most important thing, concretely, for Catholics in the United States to do in our fights about religious liberty is not only to say I need to protect my right to religious liberty, I need to protect my sphere of operation, but also to say how is exercising my right in this context affecting you and your perception of flourishing and your perception of what your obligations are.”

Human Rights in the Face of Contemporary Global Issues

Pivoting public discourse on human rights towards a framework of solidarity is a challenging but necessary shift in the midst of global conflicts surrounding race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and gender. Hollenbach, both in his book and in the conversation, devoted special attention to the rights of refugees and the rights of women.

Perry also reminded the audience that within any oppressive, repressive community are places of resistance. “And so to support and cultivate the place of resistance,” he said, “the critique in the culture can come from the inside, rather than from the colonial outside.”

In navigating these complex narratives, Human Rights in a Divided World calls upon the Catholic Church as a global leader to model inclusion and participation to further human rights for all.

This event was co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life; and Human Rights Institute at Georgetown Law with the Catholic Peacebuilding Network.