Book contents
- Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered
- Human Rights in History
- Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I General Reflections
- 1 The Last Christian Settlement
- 2 The Alpine Climb between Paris and Rome
- Part II European Catholicism and Human Rights
- Part III American Protestant Trajectories
- Part IV Beyond Europe and North America
- Index
1 - The Last Christian Settlement
A Defense and Critique, in Debate with Samuel Moyn
from Part I - General Reflections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 September 2020
- Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered
- Human Rights in History
- Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I General Reflections
- 1 The Last Christian Settlement
- 2 The Alpine Climb between Paris and Rome
- Part II European Catholicism and Human Rights
- Part III American Protestant Trajectories
- Part IV Beyond Europe and North America
- Index
Summary
Samuel Moyn has rightly argued that post–World War II notions of human rights were blended with incompatible notions of human dignity under Christian influence. However, where he sees a contamination of rights by dignity, I see the opposite. The modern Christian traditions around dignity were linked to a personalist politics that sought to refuse both liberalism and fascism and was not simply fascist-tending. The stability of the postwar settlements owed much to their influence. But that they have now broken down is somewhat to do with their over-dilution by liberalism from the outset.
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- Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered , pp. 19 - 39Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020