The Faith Factor in Fatherhood Renewing the Sacred Vocation of Fathering

by Eberly, Don E.; Blankenhorn, David; Blankenhorn, David; Browning, Don S.; Coats, Dan; Dalbey, Gordon; Duke, Barrett; Eberly, Don E.; Franklin, E Bernard; Jr, George Gallup; Horn, Wade F.; Knippers, Diane; Land, Richard; Lewis, Robert; Malone, Larry; McCar

• ISBN13: 9780739100806
• ISBN10: 0739100807
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-13
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Edited by founder and chairman of the National Fatherhood Initiative Don Eberly, The Faith Factor in Fatherhood addresses the key role that religious institutions can play in reviving what Eberly calls the "sacred vocation of fatherhood." In response to the wider debate regarding the increased expectations that are being placed by policy makers on faith-based institutions to serve important public purposes, contributors to this volume guide denominations, places of worship, and religious social agencies to recover the role they once played in reaching and supporting young men with a message of responsible fatherhood. Ecumenical in scope, the book addresses what each faith community can do to recover its particular heritage of engaged, involved fathering, through methods including instruction, rites of passage programs, stories, ceremonies, mentoring, and community outreach.

Author Biography

David Blankenhorn is president of the New York-based Institute for American Values. Don S. Browning is the Alexander Campbell Professor of Religious Ethics and the Social Sciences at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and director of the Religion, Culture, and Family Project, funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. Dan Coats is a former U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana. Mr. Coats is a practicing lawyer and is chairman of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. Gordon Dalbey holds graduate degrees from Harvard and Stanford. He is a popular international conference and retreat speaker. Barrett Duke is the director of denominational relations, conferences, and seminars for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention's agency for applied Christianity. Don Eberly directs the Civil Society Project in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a project committed to civic and democratic renewal, and is the founder and chairman of the board of the National Fatherhood Initiative. E. Bernard Franklin is vice president of the National Center for Fathering. George Gallup Jr. is chairman of the George H. Gallup International Institute, a public charity designed to discover, test, and encourage application of new solutions to social problems. Wade F. Horn is the president of the National Fatherhood Initiative, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, an affiliate scholar with the Hudson Institute, and a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators. Diane Knippers is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an organization dedicated to fostering the spiritual and political reform of the mainline Protestant churches. Richard Land is the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and host of "For Faith and Family," a daily radio show on current issues from an evangelical perspective. Robert Lewis is a teaching pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Larry Malone is the national director of men's ministries under the General Commission on United Methodist Men. Bill McCartney is the founder and CEO of Promise Keepers in Denver, Colorado, an organization dedicated to motivating men toward greater strength and Christlike masculinity. He is the former head football coach of the University of Colorado. Michael J. McManus writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column called "Ethics and Religion" and is the author of several books. He is president of Marriage Savers. John W. Miller is Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies at Conrad Grebel College/University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Miller is also a lecture in Old Testament at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. Anthony M. Pilla is the Roman Catholic bishop of Cleveland and. president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. DeForest "Buster" Soaries is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, in Somerset, New Jersey Dr. Soaries is also chairman of the Renaissance Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization committed to the redevelopment and revitalization of both human and physical capital. Myron Stoltzfus is president and owner of Stoltzfus Meats, Inc. Mr. Stoltzfus is active in his church, Bethany Mennonite Church. He serves on the boards of Locust Grove Mennonite School and the Pennsylvania Family Institute and is a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee of the American Association of Meat Processors and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. W. Bradford Wilcox is a doctoral student in sociology at Princeton University He is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction The Spirit of the Fatherhood Movement	xi
David Blankenhorn
Part One The Story of American Fatherhood
The Collapse and Recovery of Fatherhood	3	(18)
Don E. Eberly
Making Great Men and Fathers	21	(18)
Don E. Eberly
What Americans Believe About Fatherhood and the Role of Religion	39	(20)
George Gallup Jr.
Part Two The Heritage of Fatherhood in America's Faith Communities
Fatherhood in the African American Church	59	(32)
Bernard Franklin
Fatherhood in the Roman Catholic Tradition Most Reverend	91	(6)
Anthony M. Pilla
Fatherhood in the Evangelical Tradition	97	(16)
Richard Land
Barrett Duke
Fatherhood in the Mainline Protestant Tradition	113	(18)
Diane Knippers
Part Three Fatherhood and Faith in the American Public Debate
The Rise of an American Fatherhood Movement	131	(14)
Wade F. Horn
The Role of Marriage in Strengthening Fatherhood	145	(34)
Michael J. McManus
Beyond Government to Faith-Based Community Strategies	179	(12)
Senator Dan Coats
Fatherhood as a Point of Convergence Beyond Old Categories	191	(12)
Don S. Browning
The Idea of God as Father	203	(16)
John W. Miller
Emerging Attitudes About Gender Roles and Fatherhood	219	(22)
W. Bradford Wilcox
Men as Promise Makers and Keepers	241	(10)
Bill McCartney
Restoring Civil Society Through Fatherhood	251	(16)
Don E. Eberly
Part Four Faithful Fathers: The Journey Back
One Denomination's Initiative	267	(14)
Larry Malone
One Pastor's Personal Struggle	281	(10)
DeForest ``Buster'' Soaries
Recovering the Rites of Male Passage	291	(12)
Gordon Dalbey
One Son's Rite of Passage	303	(6)
Myron Stoltzfus
The Power of Male Initiation Ceremonies	309	(10)
Robert Lewis
Index	319	(8)
About the Contributors	327