Release date: March 14, 2006
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Wolterstorff to Speak Up For Rights March 29

Distinguished philosopher Nicholas P. Wolterstorff will discuss justice and its basis in natural human rights at noon, Wednesday, March 29 at Emory University School of Law.

Wolterstorff, the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University, will deliver "Speaking Up for Rights" as the 2006 Alonzo L. McDonald Lecture on Christian Jurisprudence.

His address previews his forthcoming book, "Justice as Rights," which was inspired by injustices he witnessed against people of South Africa and Palestinian Arabs. "I realized that I had been confronted with a call to speak up for these wronged and suffering people," he writes in the book's preface. "Oppressors do all they can to prevent use of the category of justice; they do all they can to cast the situation in terms of better and worse rather than justice and injustice, in terms of good behavior and bad behavior, in terms of benevolence."

Wolterstorff says that he spoke up for the "wronged of the world" in his book, "Until Justice and Peace Embrace," first edition published in 1983, but "in that book I took for granted a certain account of justice and focused my attention on its application to various situations in our world; in this book, I try to articulate that account." He argues that rights are normative to social relationships. "A right is always a right with regard to someone," he writes.

Wolterstorff has been honored with invitations to the world's elite lectureships in the humanities and religion, including the Gifford Lectures at St. Andrews University in 1995. Among his recent books are "Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology," "Religion in the Public Square" with R. Audi, "John Locke and Ethics of Belief" and "Divine Discourse."

The lecture is hosted by Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion and serves as the second annual McDonald Lecture, made possible by a $500,000 grant from the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Agape Foundation for a five–year project on Christian jurisprudence. Alonzo L. McDonald is a trustee emeritus of Emory. The project aims to create a series of new publications and public forums on fundamental issues at the intersection of law, religion and society.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call 404–712–8710 or go to www.law.emory.edu/cslr.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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