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Human Rights: Individual or/and Group
Rights? An Attempt towards a Holistic Understanding of
Human Rights Based on the Christian Concept of the Human
Person as the Imago Trinitatis, lxxxii
+ 310 p.
The
basic question that is asked here is whether human
rights are individual rights, or are they
group/collective rights, or further whether they are
both. On the basis of our study, we propose that we
need to develop a holistic and integral approach to
human rights, if it has to be meaningful and relevant
for our times.
Our research is based on two things: firstly, the
concrete developments in the contemporary
human-rights-debate under the patronage of the United
Nations and its subordinate bodies that work towards
creating a humane, peaceful, just and livable society in
the world; secondly the theological developments related
to the doctrine of the Trinity and specifically the
concept of the human person as the imago trinitatis,
a concept that was already present in the classical
theology (Augustine and Aquinas).
Taking multi-dimensionality of the human person
seriously requires that we reject an idea of human
rights that is limited to only one of these dimensions,
and hold for a notion of human rights that can help the
humans achieve both their ‘individual’ as well as
‘social/relational’ dimensions of personhood. In the
conflicting historical rivalries between the Western and
the Eastern political blocs, emphasis has been placed
for a long time only on one of these dimensions, which
in turn resulted in an individualistic or
group/collectivist approach to human rights,
respectively. Since the realization of the fulness of
human personhood demands that we consider both the
individual and social/relational aspects of the human
person in a balanced manner, our notion of human rights
requires a holistic approach that can integrate in it
both the dimensions of the human personhood.
Our examination of the contemporary
human-rights-debate reveals that there is a ‘dynamic’
aspect to the notion of human rights. New types of
rights are emerging as we advance in our understanding
of the human person based on our life-experiences around
the world. We have analyzed particularly three of these
rights: the right to self-determination, the right to
development, and the right to a safe and healthy
environment. We find that these rights are recognized
and promoted as group rights, and are being included in
the family of human rights which are indivisible and
universal. We also realize the intimate link between
the individual and the collective dimensions in these
rights – they are both individual rights as well as
rights of the group/collectivity. In our discussion
regarding the future generations, we find that though
due to ‘facelessness and namelessness’, some deny them
the status of ‘rights-holders’, we can hold ourselves
bound by obligations towards the future generations on
two accounts: firstly, on the basis of their future
interests; and secondly, on the basis of the fact that
they are part of the human family which has rights on
the basis of the principles of intergenerational justice
and the common heritage of mankind. The examination of
these principles, in the context of the right to
development and the right to a safe and healthy
environment, reveals that if we neglect the dimension of
responsibility and accountability in our approach to
human rights, catastrophic results will follow affecting
the universe and human well-being.
We find that the drafters of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, while affirming ‘human
dignity’ as the basis for human rights, did not give any
explanation for human dignity in the document. Thus
they left the possibility open for us to interpret the
idea of ‘human dignity’ in our own terms. Thus we
develop the basis for a Christian argument for human
rights and human dignity - the fact that God created the
human persons in the image and likeness of God.
The classical Christian theology (e.g. Augustine
and T. Aquinas) has taught that the statement that the
‘human person is created in the image of God’ is to be
understood, as created in the image of a trinitarian
God. The revelatory evidence gathered from the Old and
the New Testaments in general would lead us to the
theological conclusion that the human person is created
in the image of (not simply) God, but in the image of
God who is a trinity. Thus, if we are created
in the image of God, we are created in the image of the
Trinity, since God is a Trinity, and each human person
is called to become more and more an ‘image’ of the
Trinity.
We propose that we should use the concept of imago
trinitatis in the place of imago Dei, in
accordance with the classical theology, and strengthened
by the examination of the inner dynamics of the
trinitarian life. We find that our anthropology should
be based on a relational ontology, based on the inner
life of the Trinity. The human person is created to be
in relationship. This relationality is not something
that is added to the human person, but is the
essence of being a human person. This relationality or
communion is not something limited or restricted. The
human person is related not only to the fellow humans
here and now, but this interrelatedness is to be
extended to the future as well as spatially, making the
whole of human family as one unit, since not only the
individual human person but also the whole of humanity,
collectively, is the imago trinitatis. The
Scripture scholars tell us that the word used in the
creation narrative in the book of Genesis (Adam)
is a generic word which could mean ‘mankind’, or
‘humanity’. Thus it is not only the individual human
person, but the whole of humanity is the image of the
Trinity, and is called to ‘image’ the Trinity.
The interrelatedness does not end there, since the
whole of creation reveals the ‘traces’ of the
trinitarian God. This relationality extends also to the
whole universe which is entrusted to the humans
(individually and collectively) to be cared for in a
responsible manner, imaging God’s own creativity and
caring. In a Christian reflection on human rights, this
is significant, especially, in the context where the
international bodies are beginning to condemn the unjust
and irresponsible exploitation of the natural resources
in the universe. The whole creation/universe is to be
taken care of by the creative and responsible
stewardship of the humans for the well-being and
flourishing of everyone there.
The trinitarian concepts that we have analysed
give us a relational anthropology, which can sustain
neither pure individualism nor pure collectivism, but
envision a community where both the individual persons
as well as their relationality is adequately and
responsibly integrated, valued and respected. On the
basis of the implications of trinitarian theology, and
on the basis of our examination of the developments
regarding the notion of human rights in the contemporary
debate, we say that our approach to human rights has to
be broadened to develop a holistic and integral view of
human rights.
The official catholic social thought has not made
use of this concept of imago trinitatis
sufficiently to draw its nuances for its human rights
tradition. The use of this concept and its
implications in catholic social thought can help in
developing and reconstructing an integral and holistic
approach to human rights and can serve as a firm
theological basis for responsible and dignified human
life and behaviour. |