Introduction
In Paul's time the role of paterfamilias in Roman households—as well as
in general society—was that of an authoritarian ruler with absolute
control over all people in his realm. In his letters to the
congregations that he had founded and towards which he felt paternal
affection, the apostle Paul transcended this dominating relationship by
expressing deep emotions of longing and affection. He also nurtured
them by sharing his life with them and helping them resocialize to
Christianity.
Role of the Paterfamilias
During Paul's time, the ruling Roman tradition understood the family as
the basis of society and the paterfamilias as the literal "head of the
family." This man, the oldest male in direct line within his familia,
had unprecedented power in the form of patria potestas ("paternal
power").[1] The unlimited authority that he exercised over all members
of his household (children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were
all under his omnipotent hand) did not end when they grew up, rather
the paterfamilias controlled every aspect of their lives (from
collecting their income to allowing their marriages) until his death.
His reign extended over the whole of the domus ("household"), meaning
that slaves were in a similar relationship. Children and slaves were
both owned by the paterfamilias because "they are both born into their
parents' household and require to be supported."[2] He even had ius
vitae nescisque, the right of life and death over the members of his
family.[3] Such was the supremacy of paternal power that the second
century lawyer Gaius was moved to say: "virtually no other men have
over their sons a power such as we have."[4]
Aristotle had maintained that the household was a paradigm of the
political and social order which comprised "people of different
rank—some of which are more fit to rule (e.g. fathers) while others
(e.g. children) are to serve."[5] His ideas were built upon and
extended by the Romans, who created an ideal and metaphor out of their
family life and applied it to many realms outside of the family sphere.
As such, the extensive political hierarchy of the Roman Empire was
modelled upon the strict hierarchy of the Roman familial relationships,
and, just as in their families, the functions of the political father
always played "the most prominent role amongst the family metaphors
used in the aristocratic Republic and later on in imperial Rome."[6]
Romans quickly took to describing relationships between non-related
adults with family metaphors; in the Roman Republic the nickname Pater
Patriae ("father of the fatherland") was used familiarly for certain
leaders. In the Principate the term "became a standard metaphor for the
Emperor,"[7] representing the Emperor not only as state-leader but also
as father-figure of the Empire, a man who—in the tradition of Romulus,
the first Father of Rome[8]—would rescue the Roman population in times
of war. The flourishing and embracing of family metaphors throughout
all aspects Roman society—for the most part meant to evoke symbolic
domination and authority over others—supports Lassen's view that Romans
seemed to have viewed themselves "as, above all, a society of fathers
and sons."[9] We know the Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen, although he
did not grow up there. How then did he view the role of fathers, and
especially of the paterfamilias? Did he ever see himself in a paternal
role, and if so, how would he (who had such a low opinion of
fornication) become a father?
Paul As Father
In her groundbreaking essay "Paul as the New Abraham" Jewish theologian
Pamela Eisenbaum contends that Paul—by establishing new families for
God—thought of himself as a founding father and as such a spiritual
heir to Abraham. Paul makes frequent referrals to Abraham's
"descendents of faith" (see Galatians 3 and Romans 4), and while the
traditional interpretation of this has been that as long as the faith
of new converts resembles that of Abraham they can be called his
"sons,"
Eisenbaum translates these passages rather as a direct reference to a
patrilineal lineage.[10] Offering a slightly varied translation of
Romans 4:16-22 she posits that "Abraham's quintessential act of faith
is the conception of Isaac" because this act, although seemingly more
of the body than of the mind, ends up founding a sacred family. Because
of his faith, those born of Abraham through Isaac are blessed by God.
It is in this same field that Paul thinks he is labouring. After so
many exhortations to "imitate him," we see that it is really Paul who
is performing the mimesis! The only difference is that Paul is working
not to create a new family but to extend Abraham's, to himself father
members of the sacred family. To do this he goes to the Gentiles, those
who had been previously excluded by birth. In Romans 4:16-22 Paul
writes "in Isaac shall thy seed be called." While Jews are able to
claim their inheritance through Abraham (although some don't), Gentiles
have never had a chance to do so, and thus Paul takes upon himself the
expansion of God's family by "fathering" these new Gentile believers
with the word and incorporating them into the single "family of
humanity" that he believes he, Abraham and God are founding together.
How did he do this? American rabbi Howard Eilberg-Schwartz finds
evidence in rabbinic texts to say that:
Rabbis "fathered" children through the teaching of Torah. As the
learning of Torah emerged as the paradigmatic religious act in the
rabbinic community, it absorbed the symbolic capital which had earlier
been invested in procreation. Concerns about reproduction and lineage
were symbolically extended from the human body to Torah knowledge
itself.[11]
In this way it was possible for men in both ancient Jewish and
Christian communities to "inseminate with the Word," as it were, and in
this non-bodily manner reproduce themselves via their knowledge of
faith. Which brings us to a greater understanding of Pauline paternity,
this alternative means of reproduction—the preaching and teaching to
increase the congregation's numbers and thus the family of God—that is
the method in which Paul saw himself fathering, not biological
children, but his spiritual kin, his "dear children" of Galatians 4:19.
It is they, reborn through the "spiritual virility" of Paul's speech,
who will be adopted into the sacred family of "descendents of Abraham."
What Kind of Father?
If Paul was a "father" to all his congregations, how did he treat them?
Anthropologist Margaret Mead tells us that "human fatherhood is a
social invention,"[12] and as such we recognize that there are many
differing fathering styles, ranging from harried breadwinner to sullen
brute to caring protector.[13] What kind of father was Paul, and what
kind did he perceive himself as being? Trevor Burke, in his article
"Pauline Paternity in 1 Thessalonians," compares the harsh role of the
Roman paterfamilias with the loving words that Paul expresses towards
his congregational offspring and concludes that the Thessalonians were
"not only loved by God, they also became Paul's own beloved."[14] A
good example of this Pauline love is expressed in 1 Thessalonians
2:6-7, in which Paul contrasts his right to make demands of the
community with his expressed preference to be gentle as a "nursing
mother." The verb employed for this affection is not found anywhere
else in the whole of the New Testament,[15] but was commonly used for
child graves to convey the longing and sadness of the parents as well
as their deep affection for the departed child.[16] Paul uses this
image again in the passage of 2:17-20 when he describes his separation
from the congregation in almost "bereavement-like" terms.[17] This,
then, must be an indication of the great kindness inherent in Paul's
fathering. Indeed, when the rigidity of the patriarchal Roman system
serves as a backdrop to the apostle's letters we can see, as Burke
does, that "the mere fact that Paul wrote letters to his churches is
evidence in itself of the apostle's concern and love for them,"[18] and
conclude with Burke that while Paul had paternal (and therefore
hierarchical) relations with the Thessalonians this "does not exclude
the natural affection he also felt and manifested towards his
converts."[19] Paul loved his spiritual children, that much is clear.
But it is a special type of love that he shares with them, one that,
when considered in the paterfamilial framework of Paul's culture, can
cause one to think more of a mother figure. As den Heyer has commented,
"it is significant in this context that he regarded [the congregation]
as a child of whom he was both the mother and the father."[20]
New Concepts of Parental Roles
We know, as Castelli puts it, that "the image of the father must be
read in cultural context, that is, in relationship to the nature of the
paternal role in Greco-Roman society—which is a role of possessing
total authority over children."[21] But what about Jewish society? In
his 1989 book "Biblical Faith and Fathering" John Miller looks at the
development of new "modes of fathering" in Antiquity, especially in
Israel. He argues that through the rituals of the first-born,
circumcision and Passover, Israelite fathers became involved with their
children and families to a degree unheard of in other cultures,
reflecting Israel's experience of God as redemptive father. Fathers
also became teachers in their families, again to a unique degree:
It might be said, in fact, that it was this emerging sense of
responsibility to teaching among the Israelite fathers that gave rise
to the Hebrew Bible itself. Thus the frequently noted pedagogical power
of Hebrew scripture itself bears potent witness to a new and
morevigorous involvement of fathers as caretakers of children in the
culture in which this scripture was born.[22]
This "taking care" of children is illustrated best by Paul's famous
"nursing mother" image in 1 Thessalonians 2:7, which was so powerful
for Elaine Stedman that it lead her to the realization that "spiritual
motherhood is the expression of the femininity of God's character as
seen in the servanthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a dimension of
maturity intended for every Christian, whatever our function."[23]
Robbie Durvin is quoted by her professor Linda McKinnish Bridges as
saying "authentic Pauline evangelism is like motherhood; it is
intimate. It takes a long time, it involves suffering, it demands the
sharing of one's own life."[24] Obviously something is amiss here: Paul
is supposed to be a paternal figure from the great Roman paterfamilias
tradition, yet to love as he does in his context seems to put him into
much more of a motherly role towards his congregations than an
authoritarian father. What is this supposed to mean?
Paul As Nurturing Mother
The word "nurturing" does not only mean giving nourishment; according
to Therese Benedek the word implies "breeding, rearing, tutelage,
training, moral training, even discipline. The whole range of the
sociocultural role of motherhood is expressed in the word."[25] If
Charles Wanamaker could, I'm sure he would add "socialization of
children" to that label of nurturing attributes and smack it right on
Paul. In his article "'Like A Father Treats His Own Children': Paul and
the Conversion of the Thessalonians" Wanamaker explores the interesting
and important field of the "sociology of religion," or the way in which
understanding concepts of the social sciences can provoke insights into
Biblical texts. He shares one such insight in his article, namely that
the love poured forth so freely by Paul was a way to help with the
"resocialization" process of his new converts. He explains that in
order to conversion to take place the missionaries must develop
intensive interactions with the prospective converts in order to become
"significant others" in their lives, and thus gain the opportunity to
lead their converts into a "Christian world of experience with its own
knowledge, roles, values, attitudes and social meaning."[26] This is
exactly what Paul is doing in 1 Thessalonians 2: 7-12, reminding them
that he has shared not only the word of the Gospel with them but also
his life: "For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for
labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of
you, we preached unto you the gospel of God."[27] Philip Esler, writing
about Galatians 5-6, finds that in these chapters "Paul uses family
imagery to create an identity for his congregations very different from
that of the dominant struggle for honour in this culture."[28] I would
argue that the good apostle is doing it again in Thessalonians,
creating a family ideal that is diametrically opposed to that of the
dominating Greco-Roman one. By embracing the "femininity of God's
character" Paul is transvaluing traditional notions of parenting, in
fact the very institution of fatherhood as the world knew it is
threatened by his liberal outpourings of affection, care towards his
"spiritual children" and clear devotion to helping them resocialize
into the Christian community and as such find new identities in Christ.
Conclusion
Paul's "parental transvaluing" has echoes today in maternal feminist
theories. Sara Ruddick wrote in 1983 that more work must be done to
change the way in which mothers and fathers conceive of their role
within the family: "We must work to bring a transformed maternal
thought in the public realm, to make the preservation and growth of all
children a work of public conscience."[29] Her voice was joined later,
in 1994, by Barbara Katz Rathman who called for a revaluing of intimacy
and nurturance, all the while asserting, in very Pauline fashion, that
"the social relationship of parenting, of nurturing, and of caring
needs a social base, not a genetic one."[30] One can almost hear Paul
crying out "come join, all people can become descendants of Abraham."
Paul was looking to expand the sacred family of God, and in so doing
devoted his life to "fathering" Gentiles with the word of the Gospel.
But he did not, even when entire congregations viewed him as their
father, conform to the Roman image of the family, rather he refused to
act as paterfamilias towards his congregations and instead showered
them with tender words of comfort. He also went beyond words and lived
among the converts, sharing their lives and helping them discover what
it meant to gain a new identity in Christ. In all of these ways he
foreshadowed Rathman's cry that "we have to move beyond a paternity
standard to a standard of nurturance."[31] And considering how he
emphasizes at all turns the love of God and the grace of the family of
God, I think he and Ruddick might agree on some points and possibly
look forward together to
"a day when there will be no more 'fathers,' no more people of either
sex who have power over their children's lives and moral authority in
their children's world, though they do not do the work of attentive
love. There will be mothers of both sexes who live out a transformed
maternal thought in communities that share parental care. Such
communities will have learned from their mothers how to value
children's lives."[32]
Goodness gracious, they could pick up some tips from the original "maternal pater" himself.
Bibliography
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Benedek, Therese. "Motherhood and Nurturing." in Parenthood: Its
Psychology and Psychopathology, ed. E. James Anthony and Therese
Benedek. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970.
Burke, Trevor. "Pauline Paternity." Tyndale Bulletin 51, no. 1 (2000): 59-79.
Castelli, Elizabeth . Imitating Paul: A Discourse of Power. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1991.
Cicero. Translated by Clinton W. Keyes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928.
den Heyer, C.J. Paul: A Man of Two Worlds. Translated by John Bowden. Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 2000.
Durvin, Robbie. Gentle As a Nurse: Exegesis of 1 Thess. 2:7-12.
Unpublished paper submitted to Linda McKinnish Bridges' New Testament
Course, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Spring, 1992.
Eilberg-Schwarz, Howard. God's Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
Eisenbaum, Pamela. "Paul as the New Abraham." in Paul and Politics, ed. Richard A. Horsley. Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 2000.
Esler, Philip. "Imagery and Identity in Gal. 5.13 to 6.10." in
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Green, Maureen. Fathering. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
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Constructing Early Christian Families, ed. Halvor Moxnes. New York:
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Mead, Margaret. Male and Female. New York: William Morrow, 1953.
Miller, John W. Biblical Faith and Fathering. New York: Paulist Press, 1989.
Moore, A.L. 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Camden: Nelson, 1969.
Rathman, Barbara Katz. "Beyond Mothers and Fathers: Ideology In a
Patriarchal Society." in Mothering, Ideology, Experience, Agency, ed.
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_________________. The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Michigan: Eerdmans, 1990.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Chris Frilingos, "'For My Child, Onesimus': Paul and Domestic Power
in Philemon," Journal of Biblical Literature 119, no 1 (2000): 96
[2] Trevor Burke, "Pauline Paternity in 1 Thessalonians," Tyndale Bulletin 51, no 1 (2000): 63.
[3] Y. Thomas, "Vitae nescisque potestas," in Du Châtiment dans la
Cité: Supplices Corporels et Peine de Mort dans le Monde Antique.
Edited by Y. Thomas (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1984), 448.
[4] Gaius, Institutionum Commentarus. I. 55 (Gordon & Robinson, LCL).
[5] Aristotle, Politics. I.i.1-12 (Rackham, LCL).
[6] Eva Marie Lassen, "The Roman Family: Ideal and Metaphor," in
Constructing Early Christian Families, pp. 103-20. Edited by Halvor
Moxnes (New York: Routledge, 1997), 111.
[7] Lassen, 110.
[8] Cicero, De Republica. I. 64 (Keyes, LCL).
[9] Lassen, 114.
[10] Pamela Eisenbaum, "Paul as the New Abraham," in Paul and Politics,
pp. 130-45. Edited by Richard A. Horsley (Harrisburg: Trinity Press,
2000), 138.
[11] Howard Eilberg-Schwarz, God's Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994), 212-13.
[12] Margaret Mead, Male and Female, (New York: William Morrow, 1953), 56.
[13] Maureen Green, Fathering, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976), 10-15.
[14] Burke, "Pauline Paternity," 77.
[15] Charles Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary
on the Greek Text, (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 102.
[17] L. Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, (NICNT; Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1991), 127.
[18] Burke, "Pauline Paternity," 77.
[19] Burke, "Pauline Paternity," 80.
[20] C.J. den Heyer, Paul: A Man of Two Worlds, Translated by John Bowden, (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 2000), 113.
[21] Elizabeth Castelli, Imitating Paul: A Discourse of Power, (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1991), 101.
[22] John W. Miller, Biblical Faith and Fathering, (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), 85.
[23] Elaine Stedman, A Woman's Worth, (Waco: Word Books, 1975), 7.
[24] Robbie Durvin, Gentle As a Nurse: Exegesis of 1 Thess. 2:7-12,
Unpublished paper submitted to Linda McKinnish Bridges' New Testament
Course, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Spring, 1992.
[25] Therese Benedek, Motherhood and Nurturing," in Parenthood: Its
Psychology and Psychopathology, pp. 153-66. Edited by E. James Anthony
and Therese Benedek (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1970), 157.
[26] Charles Wanamaker, "'Like A Father Treats His Own Children': Paul
and the Conversion of the Thessalonians," Journal of Theology for
Southern Africa 92 (1995): 51.
[27] 1 Thess. 2:9 (NIV)
[28] Philip Esler, "Imagery and Identity in Gal. 5.13 to 6.10," in
Constructing Early Christian Families, pp. 121-149. Edited by Halvor
Moxnes (New York: Routledge, 1997), 122.
[29] Sara Ruddick, "Maternal Thinking," in Mothering: Essays in
Feminist Theory, pp. 213-30. Edited by Joyce Trebilcot (Savage: Rowman
& Littlefield, 1983), 226.
[30] Barbara Katz Rathman, "Beyond Mothers and Fathers: Ideology In a
Patriarchal Society," in Mothering, Ideology, Experience, Agency,
pp.139-60. Edited by E.N. Gelnn, G. Chang and L.R. Forcey (New York:
Routledge, 1994), 155.
[31] Rathman, "Beyond Mothers and Fathers," 157.
[32] Ruddick, "Maternal Thinking," 227.
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