ABSTRACT
An open or progressive Christology will be open to dialogue - and not simply on its own terms - with more absolutist Christologies, both incarnational and inspirational. Many theologians have studied Christology for its own sake and have also been heavily committed to human rights issues. The churches are unlikely to be a catalyst for human rights issues in society so long as they are seen to manifest internal oppression. Human rights advocacy cannot be done in a hermetically sealed space of 'theology and rights'. It becomes more difficult to relate the ministry of Jesus directly to other aspects of human rights, especially positive rights. As a kind of unscientific postscript to the initial concept of a Christology for human rights it is instructive to consider just one or two features of the early Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the light of the basic structuring elements of Christology.
