Fatherhood, Childism, and the Creation of Society

Author: Wall, John

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 75, Number 1, 8 March 2007 , pp. 52-76(25)

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Abstract:

This essay argues for a new religious ethical approach to fatherhood centered on children and their expanding capabilities for participation in society. Under the notion of childismin analogy to feminism, womanism, humanism, and the likeit takes the perspective of the experiences and concerns of childhood as such. In contrast with a soft patriarchal argument for fatherhood that dominates much religious discourse today, it argues for a larger and more hopeful vision of fatherhood as directed toward the human social good. This requires, methodologically, a richer hermeneutical circle between religion and the social sciences. Substantively, it calls for Christian and other religious ethicists to re-imagine fatherhood as an integrated publicprivate responsibility that aims to cultivate childrens fully human social creativity as images of their Creator.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfl059

Publication date: 2007-03-08

More about this publication?

The Journal of the American Academy of Religion is generally considered to be the top academic journal in the field of religious studies. Headed into its 75th volume in 2007 and with a circulation of over 10,000, this international quarterly journal publishes top scholarly articles that cover the full range of world religious traditions together with provocative studies of the methodologies by which these traditions are explored. Each issue also contains a large and valuable book review section.