Liberalism and Liberation : The World Council of Churches and the Global Politics of Human Rights

Bastiaan Bouwman examines how the World Council of Churches developed its human rights advocacy, from its initial focus on religious freedom to a later emphasis on social justice. He challenges the notion that the rise of human rights was strictly secular, demonstrating how Christian advocacy interacted with major political developments.

Founded in 1948, the World Council of Churches (WCC) was an important voice for human rights during the establishment of the postwar liberal international order. Bastiaan Bouwman demonstrates how its Christian human rights advocacy underwent a dramatic change over the following decades, from its initial focus on religious freedom to its later emphasis on social justice. By the 1970s, the WCC had moved to the left, focusing on causes such as the struggle against white minority rule in Southern Africa, right-wing repression in Latin America and Asia, and domestic and international inequalities. Drawing on extensive archival research, Bouwman sheds much needed light on a half century of contest over the concept of human rights. He challenges the notion that the rise of human rights was either a strictly secular or liberal phenomenon and shows how the WCC's advocacy interacted with major political developments such as decolonization and the Cold War.