This seminar will explore questions of human rights in a political and inter-religious context looking at how the theological and philosophical implications of various religious traditions impact the notion of human rights.

Included in this inquiry will be narrative accounts of human rights struggles in local and global contexts. The course readings emphasize and respect the various ethical expressions of religious and philosophical traditions, not presupposing the human rights language as the only dominant and standard ethical expression, though it is an important one. Rather, the underlying human rights values of various traditions are stressed. In this way, the differences and commonalities among these religious and philosophical traditions can be better appreciated.[15 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty Permission]