Human dignity and basic rights have often been characterised as phenomena of the 20th century. However, as this volume will show, these norms were firstly described and characterised in the ancient era and early Christianity. The contributions focus on the development of the basic rights in Europe in the early modern ages and discuss their meaning and dimension from a theological, historical and legal-historical perspective. Based on legal and theological analyses of terms such as consciousness or justice this volume offers an insight in early modern experiences of basic rights in various norms within the Christian confessions and Judaism and its related methods.