Human Rights, Theology, and Natural Law

It seems to be widely accepted in academic circles that the natural law is a static, absolute kind of law that has no place in providing a foundation for human rights in the modern world. This paper challenges this assumption. It first presents the arguments of some such critics and then turns to theology to see if, in fact, God can indeed serve as a foundation of human rights. Finally, the paper takes a new look at the natural law, not as portrayed by its critics, but as proposed by the scholastic tradition that is still at work today. The argument presented here forms part of a broader monograph on the subject of the foundation of rights by the same author.(1)