The Newman Lecture 2021 - Human Rights: A Moral Language for Our Times

November 26, 2021

About the talk

Human rights is a vital moral language for our times.  Although the critics of human rights language are many, in this lecture Professor Hogan makes the case for its continued importance.  She discusses some of the shortcomings with the liberal politics of human rights, specifically its excessive individualism, its failure to address growing economic inequalities within and between states, and its anthropocentrism.  Professor Hogan draws on the tradition of Catholic social ethics, as well as on feminist and post-colonial theologies to address these limitations.  She concludes by sketching a theological account of human rights as a moral language through which the requirements of social justice, human flourishing, and ecological sustainability can be established and vindicated.  

About the speaker

Professor Linda Hogan holds the Chair of Ecumenics in the School of Religion, Trinity College Dublin. She is an ethicist with extensive experience in research and teaching in pluralist and multi-religious contexts. Her primary research interests lie in the fields of inter-cultural and inter-religious ethics, social and political ethics, human rights and gender. Publications include Keeping Faith with Human Rights (2015), Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church (2014; ed. with Agbonkhianmghe Orobator), Religious Voices in Public Places (2009; ed. with Nigel Biggar), Religions and the Politics of Peace and Conflict (2009), Confronting the Truth: Conscience in the Catholic Tradition (2000), and From Women's Experience to Feminist Theology (1995, reissued 2016).

How to attend

This event is held in the Pichette Auditorium at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and will be live-streamed. You are invited to join us either in person or online. When you register, please indicate which option you prefer.

Register

The John Henry Newman Lecture is held annually by Campion Hall, Blackfriars, and St Benet's Hall in rotation. You can register for this free event here.

Manresa Tourism Office celebrates the Ignatian Way at World Travel Market on 5 - 7 November

November 5, 2024

We encourage everyone interested in St Ignatius and his legacy to pop along!

A reflection on Laudate Deum

October 11, 2023

Fr Dominic Robinson SJ shares his thoughts on the Pope's latest apostolic exhortation

Fr Dushan Croos SJ reflects on Pope Leo XIV's election on BBC Radio 4

May 14, 2025

Fr Dushan was interviewed in Manchester where he works as chaplain

Diplomatic relations with The Holy See, a talk with the British Ambassador

May 28, 2021

We were honoured to have the British Ambassador to The Holy See come and share her stories with us.