Human Rights in Crisis- A Cultural Critique

Relying on René Girard's theory of mimetic desire and the dramatic theologyof Raymund Schwager this monograph examines the fragility and failure ofthe human rights system when faced with escalating global violence. One ofthe author's central concerns is the human condition that makes violencefoundational to the social order. He also argues that the human rights crisis isneither an accident nor a shortfall in implementation but the result of subconsciouscollective structures of civilization itself. In the theological key theauthor relates the notion of imitative desire to data of Christian hope enablingthe reader to reflect on important questions of human rights from afresh perspective.This highly topical and necessarily controversial work should appeal to abroad readership. Social and political scientists educators contextual theologiansas well as readers with a critical concern for the future of humanrights and those who are searching for new approaches to the problem ofmounting violence will find this wide-ranging anthropological and theologicalinvestigation both provocative and encouraging.