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Distinguished Professor of Human Rights, Ethics, and Religion
Departmental Area: Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy Address: Department of Religion |
Background
Sumner B. Twiss (Ph.D., Yale University, 1974) is Distinguished Professor of Human Rights, Ethics, and Religion, involving a joint appointment between the Department of Religion and the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University. Prior to joining the FSU faculty in 2001, he was Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, where is now Professor Emeritus.
He is currently Co-Editor of the Journal of Religious Ethics (Blackwell Publishing) and Senior Editor of a new book series Advancing Human Rights (Georgetown University Press). He is the co-author or co-editor of six books: Comparative Religious Ethics: A New Method (Harper & Row, 1978); Genetic Counseling Facts, Values and Norms (Alan R. Liss, 1979); Experience of the Sacred: Readings in the Phenomenology of Religion (Brown University/University Press of New England, 1992); Religion and Human Rights (Project on Religion and Human Rights, 1994); Religious Diversity and American Religious History: Studies in Traditions and Cultures (University of Georgia Press, 1997); and Explorations in Global Ethics: Comparative Religious Ethics and Interreligious Dialogue (Westview Press/Perseus Books, 2000).
He has published over forty articles in major journals and anthologies on comparative ethics, philosophy of religion, biomedical ethics, and human rights in moral, philosophical, and religious traditions. He is currently completing two co-edited book projects—Interpreting Atrocity: Humanities in Human Rights Education and Politics and Religion in France and the United States—as well as a co-authored volume Globalization, Religion, and the Pursuit of Global Ethics. His most recent articles have included “History, Human Rights, and Globalization” (2004); “Comparison in Religious Ethics” (2005); "Humanities and Atrocities: Some Reflections” (2005); “Comparative Ethics, a Common Morality, and Human Rights” (2005); “On Cross-Cultural Conflict and Pediatric Intervention” (2006); “Theology, Tolerance and Two Declarations of Human Rights: An Interrogrative Comparison” (in press); Confucian Ethics, Concept-Clusters, and Human Rights”(in press); “Torture, Justification, and Human Rights: Toward an Absolute Proscription” (in press); and “Can a Perpetrator Write a Testimonio? Moral Lessons from the Dark Side” (in press). He is also working on a volume of his own collected essays on comparative ethics and human rights.
In 2001-2003, he co-directed a faculty seminar on Reading Crimes against Humanity in the Humanities, and his recent courses have included, Human Rights and Globalization (undergraduate); Crimes against Humanity: Analytical Perspectives (graduate; cross-listed with the School of Criminology and the School of Social Sciences); Crimes against Humanity: Fiction, History, and Autobiography (undergraduate); Foundations of Human Rights (graduate); Comparative Religious Ethics: Theory and Method (graduate); International Health, Human Rights, and Bioethics (graduate); Comparative Ethics and Human Rights (graduate); Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach (undergraduate honors); and War Crimes Tribunals (cross-listed with the Law School).
Over the course of his career, he has received a number of awards including (e.g.) Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Society for Values in Higher Education; Fellow of the Institute of Society, Ethics, and the Life-Sciences; National Endowment for the Humanities Award to co-direct a Summer Seminar for College Teachers; and a Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation Award for International Scholarly Exchange.
Research Interests
- Comparative Religious Ethics
- Comparative Moral and Religious Thought
- Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Philosophy and Theory of Religion
Selected Publications
Books
- Explorations in Global Ethics: Comparative Religious Ethics and Interreligious Dialogue (Westview Press, 2000, co-editor and contributor).
- Religion and Human Rights (Project on Religion and Human Rights, 1994, co-editor and contributor).
- Experience of the Sacred: Readings in the Phenomenology of Religion (University Press of New England, 1992, co-editor and contributor).
- Comparative Religious Ethics: a New Method (Harper & Row, 1978, co-author).
Articles
- "Confucian Ethics, Concept-Clusters, and Human Rights," in Ronnie L. Littlejohn and Marthe Chandler (eds.), Polishing the Chinese Mirror: Essays in Honor of Henry Rosemont, Jr. ACPA Series of Chinese and Comparative Philosophy (Global Scholarly Publications, 2008).
- "Torture, Justification, and Human Rights: Toward an Absolute Proscription," in Paul Weitman (ed.), Liberal Faith: Essays in Honor of Philip Quinn (University of Notre Dame Press, 2008).
- "Theology, Tolerance, and Two Declarations of Human Rights: An Interrogative Comparison," in Arvind Sharma & Francis Adeney (eds.), Human Rights: Christian Influences and Issues (SUNY Press, in press, 2007).
- "Comparison in Religious Ethics," in William Schweiker (ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics (Blackwell Publishing, 2005), pp. 147-155
- "Humanities and Atrocities: Some Reflections," Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 25.1 (Spring/Summer 2005): 219-234.
- "History, Human Rights, and Globalization," Journal of Religious Ethics 32.1 (Spring 2004): 39-70.
Teaching Specializations
- Comparative Religious Ethics
- Comparative Moral and Religious Thought
- Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Philosophy and Theory of Religion
Recent Courses
Fall 2012
REL3180 Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity: Honors Seminar
This course will examine the history and dynamics—including the role of religious ideas, figures, and institutions—of genocide and crimes against humanity as an introduction to the modern human rights movement. Its premise in so doing is that the significance of human rights is best appreciated in studying cases of their most severe violation. The course will pivot around three main texts concerned with, respectively, the history of twentieth century atrocity, the domestic and international politics of being inactive bystanders to genocide, and the legal responses to massive human rights violations. These texts will be supplemented by other readings and materials drawn from various disciplines, as well as from literature and the arts. The course will be conducted as a seminar with student team presentations. A final term paper will be required.
Spring 2012
REL4190/5195 Ethics of Torture
Critical examination of torture practices, both historically and in the contemporary period, especially goals, justifications, and limits—legal, moral, and political. Attention to proposed legalization of torture, connections with just war theory, and religious perspectives on such practices.