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HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hauerwas, S
Published in: Journal of Law and Religion
October 1, 2015

In this essay I offer a nuanced account of my critique of rights language. I argue that my primary concern is not to discount the usefulness of rights language in contemporary expressions of legal and moral duties. Rather my concern is with the overreliance on rights language such that it guards a society from acknowledging prior claims to a common good. Rights language has become too powerful when appeals to rights threatens to replace first-order moral descriptions in a manner that makes us less able to make the moral discriminations that we depend upon to be morally wise. Finally, I turn to Simone Weil and Rowan Williams, who both turn to the body to suggest a more constructive way for thinking about rights as attending to the body, which forces us to attend to contingency. Human contingency can help us resist abstractions that fail to properly account for and address bodily needs.

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Published In

Journal of Law and Religion

DOI

EISSN

2163-3088

ISSN

0748-0814

Publication Date

October 1, 2015

Volume

30

Issue

3

Start / End Page

402 / 413

Related Subject Headings

  • 2204 Religion and Religious Studies
  • 1801 Law
 

Citation

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Hauerwas, S. (2015). HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS. Journal of Law and Religion, 30(3), 402–413. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2015.28
Hauerwas, S. “HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS.” Journal of Law and Religion 30, no. 3 (October 1, 2015): 402–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2015.28.
Hauerwas S. HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS. Journal of Law and Religion. 2015 Oct 1;30(3):402–13.
Hauerwas, S. “HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS.” Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 30, no. 3, Oct. 2015, pp. 402–13. Scopus, doi:10.1017/jlr.2015.28.
Hauerwas S. HOW to THINK THEOLOGICALLY about RIGHTS. Journal of Law and Religion. 2015 Oct 1;30(3):402–413.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of Law and Religion

DOI

EISSN

2163-3088

ISSN

0748-0814

Publication Date

October 1, 2015

Volume

30

Issue

3

Start / End Page

402 / 413

Related Subject Headings

  • 2204 Religion and Religious Studies
  • 1801 Law