Vol. 40 No. 4 (1992)
Research Article

Fatherhood and the Names of God

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  • Phllip A. Rolnick
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/nam.1992.40.4.271

Published 1992-12-01

Copyright (c) 1992 Maney

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Abstract

Our names for God indicate much about our understanding of and our relationship to God. Feminists have criticized the name “Father” as legitimating male dominance in church and society. Many recent writers have argued that all names for God are metaphorical in nature, without adequately considering that analogy may provide a stronger methodology for warranting such names. Predicates applied to God should be products of progressive discovery of the divine nature rather than projection from human need. Divergent ethical ramifications will result from our names of God.

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