Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
This is a critique of an article by someone within the Patriarchal Movement who claimed that fathers literally own their daughters and that, among other things, daughters do not have a right to marry without the direct supervision and approval of their fathers. This critique is very long. I’m sorry that it is, but due to the significance of this subject in the Patriarchal Movement and the boldness of the young woman whose article I’ve answered, it seemed like a good opportunity to deal with the issue head on. The bizarre father-daughter relationships within Patriarchy are one of it’s more disturbing visible problems.
Do Fathers Own Their Daughters?
Awhile back I ran across the article "Daddy's Girl: Courtship and a Father's Rights" by Sarah Faith Schlissel (since married). This article has probably been critiqued by others before me, but since it sets forth much of the real thinking behind the father-daughter relationships taught by the Patriarchy Movement (sometimes called hyper patriarchy), I wanted to deal with it here. I realize there are many strains of so-called "Biblical Patriarchy", but from my research, what is practiced in regard to father-daughter relations appears to be very close to what this writer put down in print. If some deny it verbally, fine and well. Let us see them deny it in practice and then we will believe their claims. This article was credited to have been published by The Chalcedon Foundation (not a small thing within those circles)…
This article is amazing. You did such a wonderful job discussing and refuting the points that were raised and always with regard to the Scriptures. Until I stopped by your blog, I did not even know something like these Patriarchy people existed. After researching them, I think that you are doing a very good service bringing out accurate information. You mentioned in passing Bill Gothard--interestingly enough, back in the '80s, I got talked into attending one of his Seminars by an acquaintance of mine. She bought his whole package and made me feel that I was the one with the problem because I kind of thought his teachings were unusual. Anyway, keep on!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Anna. I'm really glad you appreciate the scripture being used so much and that you do your own research! You keep on too! :-)
DeleteI agree. There is also a false teaching that a man is prophet, priest and king in his family, or has a prophet, priest or king personality. That is taken from the description of Christ, and it was never used as authority for all men. The bible also says Christ is wonderful, counsellor, almighty God, etc. these writers never try to give those attributes to men. I never heard of any of this til some marriage and child training books were published recently. I cannot find any scriptural basis for the father or husband having such power, and it would be easy to women to reject ChristiAnity if they thought it would mean they were owned or that their husbands were prophets.
ReplyDeleteYou are right! I'd read some things by Debi Pearl regarding men being prophets, priests or kings personality-wise, but it didn't occur to me that this borders on the blasphemous till I read your comment here! Thanks so much!
DeleteI would not be surprised at all if this "movement" was a tactic of the devil to keep people away from the Gospel. I believe it is intended to make women and children suffer, which is an historical method of the adversary.
I have suspected the patriarchy teaching was just more attempt to put people in bondage of the old law which a Christian is freed from. It is also a misreading of the Old Testament and a failure to "rightly divide the word of truth". The New Testament is the spiritual law now in effect for Christians, and the patriarchy ended with Moses. Before that, god spoke his law through the patriarchs, Adam, Noah, Abraham, David and others, as heads of families.
ReplyDeleteSo, I looked up "patriarchs" and "patriarch" in the King James Version out of curiosity. The only ones named as such in scripture are Abraham, David and Jacob's twelve sons. That's interesting! I'm sure some of the others would qualify, but in the New Testament we have a spiritual law, as you say, and a spiritual ancestry, not a physical one. Those O.T. laws and promises to Israel are not for us. As you say, rightly dividing the word of truth is a big area of failure with the Patriarchy Movement and leads to the bondage of law keeping instead of faith, as we're told in Galatians 4.
DeleteThanks so much for commenting here. It's very thought provoking. :-)