Do fathers really matter? Douglas Wilson points his readers to the
baptism of Jesus and the proclamation of God the Father loving His Son as being
the archetypal portrait of the need for fathers (1) – both for families to have
fathers and for men to responsibly be father to their families.
Wilson, in his, Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love and Lead Their Families, takes his readers on a thought-provoking look at the call of being a father – beginning – as noted, with the archetypal Father being God.
In the second chapter, Wilson argues that men and
women are different, and he takes a complementarian position about men and
women – not denying their equality as bearers of the Image of God, but denying
egalitarianism, which denies the necessary and good differences between men and
women – denying that a man and a women can only come together to be a while and
take on the responsibilities of father and mother.
In chapter three, he turns to Jonathan Edwards to
show the connection between rightly worshipping God the Father and having a
right view of the authority of the human father.
In the fourth, he makes the point that the Scripture’s
calling God a masculine being has nothing to do with genitalia, but with the
role, authority, and responsibility of a father – which is different from that
of a mother (38). He defines masculinity
as “the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility” (41).
He argues that the analogy and knowledge of God
comes through seeing that Image portrayed in the human father, and it is the
lack of human fathers which has bolstered the growth of atheism (53).
In chapter six, he looks at education being the
desire to be like someone else. And he
ties the Lordship of Christ to the father’s educating of the children.
In the seventh chapter, he argues that statism is
set-up to sponsor absentee fatherism, and Christians must put the will of the
state under the will of God.
He turns to economics in the eighth chapter, turning
the reader away from what he calls “crapitalism” (92) to the biblical view that
all forms of work are given as calls by God – “church” work is not a higher or
better call than the milk-maid – and the father rightly shows how work is done
by working heartily and in pursuit of excellence, not merely to please the
boss, but the glorify God and to thank Him.
In the ninth, he looks at marriage, sexual sin, and
joining gangs in search of a father.
In the tenth, he shows that those who hold church
office must be men – fathers (normally) – who meet the standards of the
Scriptural call. These are the “fathers of
the church” who bear the Image of God the Father to the flock.
In the eleventh chapter, he looks at the doctrine of
creation and shows that believing the biblical account of Creation is necessary
to understand value. He bears this up by
examining the Eucharistic connection between the elements and the staid
provision of a father.
In chapter twelve, he argues for the normalcy of men
being fruitful in – and only in marriage.
And he discusses the failure of pornography and adultery on the basis of
incapacitating fruitfulness.
In the thirteenth chapter, he stresses the father
requiring obedience of the children and the necessity of the father being an
exemplar of obedience to his children for them to respond rightly. He draws in themes of accountability and the
real portrayal of what it means to be content in Christ.
The fourteenth chapter examines the evangelical (in
particular) problem of forgetting God the Father – evangelicals stress salvation
in Jesus Alone and sanctification by the Spirit, but the Father is relegated to
the corner. He argues the Father must be
brought forward in the Trinity, showing that the Fathers chief purpose – as with
the Son and the Spirit – is to be glorified (191). In this, the Father is known – and Wilson
spends several pages going over Scripture about the Father.
In the final chapter, Wilson warns that fathers must not abandon their responsibilities, nor cling to them as a legal document, but live them out in relation to the worship of God the Father as exemplifying this to his children (200-1).
Each chapter ends with a brief series of question to
continue reflection on the main issues of the chapter.
The book has an appendix which statistically looks
at the economic loss caused by delinquent fathers.
The book ends with a bibliography and a recommended
reading list.
I have read a number of Wilson’s books, and I was
very impressed with his tying the responsibility and role of the father in the family
to that of the knowledge and worship of God the Father. I highly recommend this book and will likely
give it to newly married men and new fathers to help them being the fathers God
has called them to be.
[I received this book free for an honest review from
Tyndale Publishing. This review appears
on my blog and Amazon.com.] #FatherHunger
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