In the last chapter we introduced the idea of the importance of imagination in science and philosophy, and hinted at its importance in theology as well. Theologians like McFague, Tracy, Mackey, and Campbell urge us to take imagination seriously in our study of the relationship between God and humanity. An initial effort was made to lay down some foundations on which we will build the ethical models of freedom and power. We saw the usefulness of Feinberg's analysis of freedom and learned from the political science analysis of power from the pens of Bachrach and Baratz. Each model goes some way towards helping us understand the meaning and value of the language of rights. At the same time we recognised the limitations of these models as they stand.

There is a need at this stage to begin to examine these models of rights from a Christian ethical perspective. In this chapter the focus will fall on the freedom model of rights. We will examine the views of theologians who have underlined the value of this topic in their writings. In particular I will stress the example of Jesus Christ whose radical stance in relation to freedom is said to be close to cynic radicalism. It will be pointed out that he functions as a model of autonomy, even though he was perfectly obedient to God, his Father. And there will be a lengthy discussion of the connections between rights and religious freedom, and between rights and fundamental equality.