Human Rights - About the Contribution of theological Ethics to the current Human Rights Discourse

Human rights have advanced to one of the leading political ideas of our time. While their relevance in our global world is hardly disputed, it is their interpretation and grounding that have become objects of contestation. This contribution argues for a (non-exclusive) theological grounding of human rights. Three steps serve to unfold the argument. A brief historical overview opens the discussion, showing that the relationship between human rights and Christian theology was no love at first sight. In a second step, the author employs Dietrich Bonhoeffer's distinction between the ultimate and the penultimate as a framework to situate a (non-exclusive) theological grounding for human rights. The Christological triad of incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection helps to further outline human rights, before in a final part the added value of a theological perspective to the human rights discourse is sketched out by unfolding four aspects.