Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 05:2 (Fall 2023)
Article: Editorial: The Toxic War On Fatherhood
Author: Colin J. Smothers

Eikon 5.2 (Fall 2023) p. 4

Editorial: The Toxic War On Fatherhood

Colin J. Smothers

Executive Editor, Eikon

November 2023

The Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 3:15 that from God the Father is named “every family in heaven and on earth.” Notably, the ESV includes a translation note that reveals an etymological connection between “Father” (πατήρ) and “family” (πατριά): literally, it is all fatherhood in heaven and on earth that is named from God the Father. An entire response to feminism’s revolt against God’s creation design is housed en miniature in this word and its translation. How can a word that literally means “fatherhood” be faithfully translated “family”? Could it have something to do with the God-ordained principle of male headship? Paul certainly seems to teach accordingly later on in the same letter in Ephesians 5.

But this is not the approach I aim to take on Ephesians 3:15 in this editorial, which is written in service of introducing you to the Fall 2023 issue of Eikon, Volume 5, Issue 2. The theme of this issue is fatherhood and masculinity. Both are under siege in the West — and not for unrelated reasons. As Nancy Pearcey points out in her new book, The Toxic War on Masculinity, which Steven Wedgeworth ably and thoroughly reviews in these pages, there is something toxic in the air. But contrary to what our effeminate and emasculated culture-makers would have you believe, it is not masculinity. What is toxic is the feminist war on masculinity being waged under the false pretense that masculinity is the problem.

Arch-feminist Mary Daly once quipped, “If God is male, then male is God.” The obvious entailments write themselves. If God is male, and male is God, where does that leave women? Either worshiping men as God, or rejecting both altogether. Notice how this seems to mirror the news cycle today. But confessional Christians everywhere reject Daly’s premise.

God is not male, because he does not have a body. God is Spirit (John 4:24). But as Kyle

Eikon 5.2 (Fall 2023) p. 5

Claunch deftly demonstrates in his must-read treatise in this issue, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and fatherhood is an essential attribute of God. God is not male, but his self-revelation is masculine. Which brings us back to Ephesians 3:15.

To appropriate Daly, if God is Father, and if all fatherhood and every family...