our father who art in heaven

our father who art in heaven

Exploring the Concept of the Father in Christian Theology

1. Introduction to the Role of the Father in Christianity

In the same way, generally speaking, the ultimate symbolism is probably the biblical description of God’s paternity. Both fatherism and personalism, both naturalism and voluntarism were present. Today these fragments are commonly dissociated, but at that time none of them had the right to develop on its own. Indeed, speaking of fatherhood, then of power, of authority, and also of responsibility and love, one used to reveal the constitutive features of God’s paternity. At the same time, and not incidentally, one also discovered characteristic features of human paternity in general, and fatherhood as a social institution in particular. Underlying all mystical passivity was a permanent solicitude, paradoxically combined with the apparently most absolute power. The paterfamilias, as master of life and death, seemed to possess all of his wife, children, and servants; actually, however, he himself was possessed by them, with all the consequences of this absolute reciprocity. The services which he imposed on them were also bound to take care of them, to assure their bodily and spiritual well-being, and to save their souls, and these services, which seemed to be due to his rank, represented true tasks imposed upon him, whether by the material or the spiritual necessities of his dependents’ lives.

One cannot understand properly the Christian theology of fatherhood unless one reflects upon the general context of the paternity of God. Many of the subtractive, negative conclusions that have been drawn since the Enlightenment about the patriarchalism of Christianity in general and the feudal nature of the faith in the nineteenth centuries depended on a deliberate ignoring of this wider context and a reduction of the operation of the divine paternity specifically and man’s privileged role which is derived from it generally to paternity in the narrow meaning; and fatherism, which is only one attitude among others. Reflecting carefully upon the nature and role of the ancient paterfamilias, one can recognize a privileged biological or relative relationship, which took the form of power, authority, responsibility, and love dependencies. These four dimensions were interrelated in such a way that neither one of them could be completely absent from the others.

2. Theological Implications of the Fatherhood of God

The fatherhood of God touches man in his most profound and intimate essence. It represents the effective and, so to speak, existential foundation of man’s being in the world. Man is in the world, in time and eternity, because God, that is, he who is the totally other, absolute being, made it possible. God has not only established the laws of creation, nor has he answered only the question of existence. He did something more fundamental: he freed man ontologically to permit him to exist both in himself and in the world. He is, therefore, a God with whom man can feel at ease, unlike the impersonal God of the philosophers who, while answering the question about the world, remains outside the world.

In classical Christian theism, God is not only the creator of everything that exists but he is also actively involved in the world and in human life. He is the God of grace and of love. The quality that best expresses these attributes is fatherhood. God is not just a creator, a king or judge. This fatherhood is expressed and fulfilled in various relations with man, in man’s waiting for God as father, in his faith in God, in his love for God, and in his hope.

3. Historical Perspectives on the Father in Christian Thought

Yet, in spite of the search for identity, in discussions with the Hellenic conceptual heritage, the problematization of God as ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ has not been given much analysis, at least when broaching the question of the unity of God. A reason for this circumstance could be the fact that ancient Christian theologians anchored the understanding of ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ in the scriptural presentation of revelation and, thus, held the revealed language about God such as ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ together. Only at the level of analogy, then, namely their relationship, one can also draw conclusions about the associations concerning the designation ‘Father’ and ‘Son’. It is important to recall that these reflections were in depth more about the relationship and not necessarily about how God has been revealed.

This chapter’s intention is to shed light on the complexity of the category of ‘Father’ in Christian tradition by examining a few key moments in the way that category has been understood. It is important to note that the plurality of Christian traditions, each with its own understanding of revelation and authority, means that the category of ‘Father’ has been variously problematized in different theological systems. Moreover, in the post-apostolic church, there had also been criticism of the manner in which the more speculative Christian theologians discussed God and of the role that the Hellenic heritage played in that theological work.

4. Contemporary Interpretations and Challenges in Understanding the Father in Christian Theology

Actually, the Christian concept of God also has its distant roots in the Bible, particularly in the First Testament, in which the real models of society are described, the messages from God inviting the people to bring about an egalitarian society without kings, priests, nor rich people. The Ten Commandments are expressed in the second person singular, which assigns to every individual the responsibility for his or her acts, that is to say they place the individual before a direct relationship with the divine. Then, we can once again discover a God who doesn’t identify himself with an established order, nor does he manifest a predilection for the powerful, nor does he sanction injustices and the exploitation of individuals. We can see a relation of harmony between the progressive degradation of relations within the faith community and also the God that Israel adored and feared, passing the faith from Elohim to Yahweh. When wolves, doves, oxen, and lions are gathered to talk about a future of peace, the nation’s prophets remind Israel that Yahweh takes sides with the just. And when Jesus of Nazareth taught: “You are good because your father is good and loves the good more than evil”, he said that he was speaking in tune with the core of experience that saw in Yahweh the lover of justice. It is important, for a Christian believer, to reflect on this trait that isn’t secondary but is the ethical minimum necessary to each concept of God; otherwise, the words of Jesus should not have as their foundation the revelation of a good and loving father of all children. What Jesus points to is summarized in one sentence: Be perfect, as your father is perfect. When speaking then of our father, the fundamental dimensions of the father define, in their content and in their limitations for humans who have the pact towards him; because of which the model, which is always to be deepened historically and culturally, reflects in a lot of its relations, and in reciprocal comparisons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) the plan that the believer should love and bring to fulfillment.

Finally, let us consider the concept of Father that is present in Christian theology today. It is a concept open to various interpretations, which remain, however, dependent both on the text as a reference and on the idea each one has of the divine. For these reasons, the debate, avoided and in fact suffocated for years by a single official discourse, suddenly found life again, making the old, almost extinguished debate explode anew. It’s necessary, at this point, to state that if this exposition takes into consideration the Christian theological context, it is because spirituality has been conditioned in the centuries by those who have had the power to define the concept of God and, thus, the model of society as well. Primarily, it must be emphasized that Christian theology has not based itself above all on the words of Jesus but mainly on the definition of God made by Greek and Roman philosophers. On this point, there is a general agreement. The novelty lies in recognizing that Christian thought has had an approach to a pagan thought that doesn’t translate a strong intention of understanding how Jesus conceived God. In fact, the relationship between Jesus and his Father allows us to proclaim a God radically different from the god of Greek and Roman philosophers.