| « | Why Not A Woman President? |
»
|
|
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Christianity, Fatherhood, and Freedom: A Sunday Rumination
This Rumination is something of a "twofer." I have a number of themes to cover. Some of these are explicitly political, so I beg the indulgence of those Gentle Readers who prefer Eternity Road's Sunday offerings because they're (usually) apolitical. And then, it's also a rather special day by my lights, in part because of my faith, and in part because it has such relevance to several of the currents roiling our nation as we speak.
I've written in the past about the present age's deficit of manly men. It's a serious lack, whose tentacles penetrate ever more deeply into our social structure and political system. Worse, our current generation of unmanly men is likely to bestow an even less manly successor generation upon us.
"Like father, like son" is more than just a clever phrase. Men do tend to resemble their fathers in character and temperament, just as women take after their mothers in those ways. Granted, some children, upon reaching their majorities, consciously depart from the paths along which they were raised. However, in times of responsibility or stress the tendency to revert to one's childhood canalization is very powerful, and often overrides the willed self-shapings of which we're unjustifiably proud.
Manly fathers tend to produce manly sons. Manliness -- a clear understanding of right and wrong; an appreciation of duty and the willingness to apply one's shoulder to its wheel -- is easy to admire and impossible to counterfeit. Nor are there any substitutes for it. Note that our "men's fiction" strongly emphasizes the manly virtues. You won't find a wimpy protagonist anywhere in it, though occasionally a thriller writer will include a weak-willed, weak-charactered Supporting Cast character as a sop to "diversity." Note also that fathers deficient in the manly virtues frown upon their sons' association with more manly adults outside the family; they feel, inarticulately but understandably, that such an "outsider's" shadow will eclipse their roles as Dads.
Unmanly fathers tend to produce unmanly sons. Sons wholly deprived of fathers tend toward savagery or spinelessness.
Manliness is an indispensable attribute in a captain of State.
Henry VIII of England was tormented by his repeated failures to produce a son. He feared that it was God's judgment upon him, which he strove to avert by flitting from wife to wife, divorcing the Church in England from the Papacy in the process. He did manage to beget a son, Edward, upon Jane Seymour, but Edward was weak both physically and mentally his entire short life. His "reign" was that of a regency council; he never held nor wielded power before dying of tuberculosis at age sixteen. It was Henry's second daughter, Elizabeth, born of Anne Boleyn, in whom the strength of the Tudor line was conserved. However, to get from Henry VIII to Elizabeth required England to endure a decade of fratricidal war.
The United States has had several demonstrably unmanly men for chief executives in recent years: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Hussein Obama. Note that all three of these "men:"
- Are whiners;
- Are prone to making excuses;
- Try to shift the blame for their failures and sins to others;
- Admit to error or wrongdoing only when they have no alternative;
- Despite their demonstrable failings, are relentless in criticizing better, more accomplished, more moral men;
- Are implacably hostile to individual freedom.
Note also that none of the three has fathered a son. Whether that was because of a quirk of biology or by Divine intervention, we may be grateful, for none of the three would be more capable of rearing a son to actual manhood than was Henry VIII.
Because the unmanly man fears responsibility, he distrusts liberty, whether for himself or for others. For liberty -- sole and absolute authority over one's own choices -- is inseparable from responsibility for the consequences of those choices.
A manly father will raise his son to an appreciation of personal independence and the obligations it confers. He'll insist, at every stage of development and under all circumstances, that his son bear the full responsibility for the consequences of his decisions and actions. He protects his son only by limiting his autonomy until the boy has grown old enough and strong enough to bear what it might cost him; apart from that, the enduring theme of the manly father's lessons to his son is to "take it, whatever it might be, like a man." For he knows that he won't be around forever; in due time, his son will have to "take it" whether he chooses to or not.
The unmanly father will restrict his son's autonomy both too long and too straitly, and will attempt to protect the boy from his errors and misdeeds when he finally does assert himself. The results are too obvious to require an extended treatment: a sense of entitlement, a fear of freedom, and the readiness to complain to anyone who'll listen about the "unfairness" of life. Depending on other characteristics of the victim and his surroundings, this can produce either a thug or a wimp. Both sorts tend to come to bad ends. In the worst cases, they pull others down along with them.
Yet, due to the social and pseudo-intellectual currents of our age, many a father whose natural inclinations are admirably wholesome and manly is plagued by doubt about whether he should rear his male children as his father reared him. Ought we to be as free and self-responsible as I feel we should be? Mightn't others know better what's good for me than I myself? Mightn't it be better if some, at least, were spared the weight of responsibility for their own well-being? He will seek rationales and evidence for his inchoate sense that men must be free, and that to be free, they must be manly.
Some fathers find the supports they need in history, others in the examples of those around them. Still others muddle along as best they can. But the greatest of all buttresses to manly fathering is available from a book, the oldest book known to Man.
The place of fathers in Christianity is unambiguous.
About twenty years ago, the great Marshall Fritz, founder of Advocates for Self-Government and one of the most capable persuaders of our time, gave a presentation titled "Can a Christian be a Libertarian?" A text essay on that subject, similar to Mr. Fritz's presentation of two decades ago, can be found here; I recommend it to anyone who believes, as so many do, that Christian convictions compel adherence to some form of statism, whether social-fascist liberalism, paternalist conservatism, or something even more vile.
Jesus Himself spoke powerfully of freedom:
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in his own household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
[The Gospel According to John, 8:31-36]
And what did His Father say?
Now a man came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false witness, honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself.” [The Gospel According To Matthew, 19:16-19]
There are two things to ponder about these passages, and the Gospels that embed them. First, their utter simplicity. Jesus emphasized that His way is not burdensome. Instead of the 613 meticulously detailed prescriptions and proscriptions of the Levitical Covenant, He proclaimed the two Great Commandments, restated the original Commandments that bind us to treat others with justice, and left it at that. This is what led G. K. Chesterton to praise Christianity for its liberality, an unprecedented feature among the world's faiths.
Second, Jesus repeatedly cited His Father as the Source of all legitimate authority -- and this time around, by "legitimate authority" I don't mean "what we've traditionally let our rulers get away with." This might be a tough mouthful for those who question Trinitarian doctrine; indeed, if Jesus is God quite as much as is God the Father, then Jesus, too, stands in absolute authority over our world. But the Redeemer, in His way with words, was exploiting a feature of Judaic society that commanded more respect than just about any other Jewish tradition: patriarchal authority.
God the Father has set Mankind free in time; each of us is charged with finding his own way back to Him. His rules, written into human nature itself, are simple and clear; breaking them brings ruin, always and everywhere. He sent His only begotten Son to lay it all out for us, so clearly that there could be no misunderstanding and no quibbling, and then to die by torture and rise from the dead in irrefutable confirmation of His message.
It's equally the function of our human fathers to educate us to freedom and responsibility, and then to set us free to seek our individual destinies. In time they must fade, and we must go on without them. But the good ones equip us with the same understanding of manliness that sustained them throughout their earthly lives, a bequest that can never be taken from us. For so unique and priceless a gift, we can never be adequately grateful, either to our human fathers, or to the Father Who bestowed them upon us.
Happy Father's Day. And may God bless and keep you all.
UPDATE: Reader Rich has informed me that the Carters did have sons: Jack, James Earl III, and Jeff. I was unaware of this. Apologies for the misstatement.
Comments
happy father’s day fran.
Posted by Rachael on 06/21/2009 at 04:05 PMActually, Jimmy and Rosalynn had three sons before Amy (Jack, Chip--James Earl III--and Jeff) but yeah, the rest of the description holds up.
Posted by on 06/21/2009 at 04:25 PMThe struggles of the manly man. The man who is described most simply and succinctly by stating simply that “He’ll take care of it.”
No matter what the “it” in question is.
Threat of harm to his family?
A leaking power steering pump on the family sedan?
Financial difficulties?
A diaper to change, an invasion to plan, a hog to butcher, a ship to conn, a building to design, a poem to compose, accounts to balance, a wall to build, a bone to set, a dying man to comfort; taking orders, giving orders, to cooperate or to act alone?
An equation to master, a new problem to solve, manure to pitch, or a computer to program? A tasty meal to cook?
To fight efficiently and die gallantly, if need be.
(Apologies to Mr. Heinlein for essentially bastardizing one of his best statements, ever.)
But he was right. Specialization IS for insects, and a manly man understands that.
Of everything on the list above, your local neighborhood manly man will “take care of it” in the way that only a true manly man can do.
WHy that is universally maligned in today’s society is incomprehensible to me. It would seem that others would want more of this type around.
I’m writing a book right now. Hopefully, it is good enough to be called a novel some day. It is about a manly man who, like most manly men, does not need praise or to brag about his accomplishments. The main character in this book goes through the entire book surprising the hell out of people, because none of them “had any idea that he could/did do stuff like that.”
He was a war hero, a bronze star recipient from the original invasion of Iraq back in 03. None of his friends know the story, because he is too modest to tell them.
When they find out what he did, they are all shocked.
His dealing with the nightmares of those days past is a strong sub-plot within the novel, and the process of “taking care of” the main plot of the book helps him to deal with the things that he had to do back then to survive.
The general plot of the book is that the main character, a single man in his early 30’s, is witness to the murder of his best friend and the kidnapping of his friend’s girlfriend by a gang of thugs (they ahd stumbled onto and seen something that they shouldn’t have seen). He intervenes, but is unable to save either of them.
The remander of the book basically covers his efforts to get her back safely. Throughout the entire book, he performs very well, but doubts himself throughout the majority of the story, because society has taught him his entire life that what he is doing (being manly and taking care of it) is wrong.
Who knows whether it will ever get any interest for publishing. I don’t care, I’m enjoying writing it.
Posted by on 06/22/2009 at 11:46 AM*clap, clap, clap*
Posted by on 06/23/2009 at 05:11 AMA fine post, as usual. Linked at CR.
And Goober--you publish it (in any form) and I’ll buy and promote it!Posted by kg on 06/23/2009 at 09:07 PMI married me a manly man. My father wasn’t a manly man, but my husband, hardworking housepainter that he is...a descendent of housepainters for several generations, is the father of only daughters....who exhibit the traits of the upbringing of a manly man. Strong, confident, ornery, and absolutely adoring their dad.
Posted by Jewel on 06/24/2009 at 01:36 PM
Comment Form
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
