Berkley Center

Berkley Center Senior Fellow Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J., has applied Christian social ethics to a wide variety of major global challenges over the last 40 years. That dedication to the interaction between ethical theory and applied ethics has led Hollenbach to work on one of the most pressing issues facing the international community today: human rights. Some of his most recent scholarship has focused sharply on the influence of human rights in shaping global political order and morality, religious nationalism and a global ethic, and Catholic responses to migrants and refugees in the United States.

In his new book, Human Rights in a Divided World: Catholicism as a Living Tradition (Georgetown University Press, July 2024), Hollenbach argues that human rights remain valid as universal standards for action today, even in our multicultural, religiously pluralistic, economically unequal world. Drawing on both Roman Catholic tradition and secular social thought, Hollenbach applies this understanding of human rights to several additional much-debated contemporary issues, including the rights of refugees, religious freedom, economic rights in the face of significant inequality, and the rights of women. To complement the book launch, the Berkley Forum has invited scholars and practitioners who specialize in human rights to reflect on how the Catholic Church is engaged in these issues and how to advance human dignity on humanistic grounds.

The Berkley Forum asks: What historical, sociological, or theological factors help to explain the contemporary relationship between Catholicism and human rights? Does the proposed understanding of human rights support universality in the face of social differences? Does this framework address the practical issues of religious freedom, the rights of refugees, economic inequality, and the universality of women’s rights in persuasive and effective ways?

Editor's Note: This series is ongoing and will be updated as additional submissions are received.