Imputed Rights: An Essay in Christian Social Theory

Thoughtful and informative, this essay is an analysis of the basis and nature of human rights. Arguing that human rights is an issue that is often invoked but seldom intelligently considered, this record examines concrete, immediate, moral, and social issues, including birth control, taxation, welfare, private behavior, and military service. Noting the inadequacies of non-Christian positions—such as the radical-humanist, utilitarian, and self-realization approaches—this account develops an original thesis in which the absolute ground for rights is the will and grace of God.

Robert V. Andelson was an ordained Congregationalist minister and a professor of philosophy at Auburn University. He was the author of From Wasteland to Promised Land: Liberation Theology for a Post-Marxist World and the coauthor of Critics of Henry George: An Appraisal of their Strictures on “Progress and Poverty.” He lived in Auburn, Alabama.