So what? Very many voices declare that fatherhood is simply a poorer version of motherhood which is where true parenting happens. A man - maybe even two men - who behave like a mother are ‘supportive assets’ to children but so might be a single mum’s circle of friends. Parenting and supportive assets are in, fatherhood is history.
History perhaps, but also divine history. In the Bible’s world the pinnacle of relationships was that of a father with his son and it is one of the key pictures of God’s internal being.
What does fatherhood do? A father-son relationship always has a generational future and past whereas a marriage belongs only to one generation. Where there is true fatherhood and sonship these are the questions that are more often and widely asked; ‘How can I shape the future?’, ‘What can I learn from your experience?’. A world where these questions are asked less is a lesser world.
Fathering lacks the bodily intimacy that creation grants to marriage and motherhood. But fatherly love is manifested, among other ways, in a wide and wise strategic interest. At every strategic high point in Christ’s ministry a father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. It sounds to us like a joke but it was a profound old saying that while mother and daughter work in the kitchen, father and son look out of the window. If no relationship gazes beyond, many journeys will never begin.
History perhaps, but also divine history. In the Bible’s world the pinnacle of relationships was that of a father with his son and it is one of the key pictures of God’s internal being.
What does fatherhood do? A father-son relationship always has a generational future and past whereas a marriage belongs only to one generation. Where there is true fatherhood and sonship these are the questions that are more often and widely asked; ‘How can I shape the future?’, ‘What can I learn from your experience?’. A world where these questions are asked less is a lesser world.
Fathering lacks the bodily intimacy that creation grants to marriage and motherhood. But fatherly love is manifested, among other ways, in a wide and wise strategic interest. At every strategic high point in Christ’s ministry a father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. It sounds to us like a joke but it was a profound old saying that while mother and daughter work in the kitchen, father and son look out of the window. If no relationship gazes beyond, many journeys will never begin.
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