Review: Joas, Hans. The Sacredness of the Person: A New Genealogy of Human Rights. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013. xi+217 pp. $29.00 (paper)

Authors

Bharat Ranganathan, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

10-2016

Publication Title

Journal of Religion

Volume

96

Issue

4

First Page

561

Last Page

563

Abstract

On what grounds should human rights rest? How should the universality of universal human rights be understood, especially given the putative incommensurability among rival views that obtain in the contemporary world? Do human rights emerge from a particular metaphysics, for example, the idea that human beings are created in the image of God? Or are human rights sufficiently basic that whatever grounds them, for example, respect for humans as ends-in-themselves, is in fact justifiable across any and all moral, political, and religious views? These queries continue to concern both human rights advocates and critics.

Comments

Accepted for publication and published by Journal of Religion on October 2016.” © 2016by the Journal of Religion https://doi.org/10.1086/687800

Recommended Citation

Hans Joas, The Sacredness of the Person: A New Genealogy of Human Rights Bharat Ranganathan The Journal of Religion 2016 96:4, 561-563 https://doi.org/10.1086/687800