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Revision with unchanged content. Relying on René Girard s theory of mimetic desire and the dramatic theology of Raymund Schwager, this monograph examines the fragility and failure of the human rights system when faced with escalating global violence. One of the author s central concerns is the human condition that makes violence foundational to the social order. He also argues that the human rights crisis is neither an accident nor a shortfall in implementation but the result of subconscious, collective structures of civilization itself. In the theological key, the author relates the notion of imitative desire to data of Christian hope en abling the reader to reflect on important questions of human rights from a fresh perspective. This highly topical and necessarily controversial work should appeal to a broad readership. Social and political scientists, educators, contextual theologians, as well as readers with a critical concern for the future of human rights, and those who are searching for new approaches to the problem of mounting violence, will find this wide-ranging anthropological and theological investigation both provocative and encouraging.

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former management consultant, now theologian, holds a post-graduate degree in engineering (Germany); he gained his MA (theol) and PhD at the Australian Catholic University in Canberra. His special interests include the relation of theology to contemporary culture, the application of mimetic theory, and peace making.

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