When at the hospital for the birth of our son, I remember being unsettled by the fact that much of the medical staff kept referring to me as my wife’s “birthing partner.” This label struck me as deflating the stakes and investment I had (and have) in both my wife and child, and I likelyContinue reading “Two Anecdotes About Family”
Tag Archives: fatherhood
Bequeathed
I’ve heard complaints: why petty Creator would sic a father’s penalty upon the son; penance for the agitatorbut never due to parent’s belov’d spawn. Yet blind to volition is this protest – choices to make imbibed from choices made; the son’s own will drawn from father’s compressed.Elder’s conveyed dictates fledging’s inlaid. My boy, imperfect IContinue reading “Bequeathed”
Out of the Mouths of Babes
For A. J. S. In his Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo articulates his well-known though questionable understanding of babies: he attributes to them a sinfulness and malice that has caused many readers to accuse the African Bishop of lacking compassion and sensitivity for human infancy. A friend of mine has, however, tried to persuade meContinue reading “Out of the Mouths of Babes”
A Layman’s Consideration of the Binding of Isaac
When I was atheistic in my self-consciously held beliefs, I was dismissive of the Bible in many ways. As is the case for many non-Christian critics of Christians, I would accuse believers of never reading their Bibles; if they had read their Bibles, I would then trot out the usual panoply of complaints about theContinue reading “A Layman’s Consideration of the Binding of Isaac”
The Fathers’ Source
With love, looking upon his own image – Set now, so small, within another’s face –He feels his heart grow weak, without courage;For evil, he’d no prior need to chase. But see that chaos, known only beforeThe unbegotten force decreed His will,Was made a home for every beast and boar,As He valleys set ‘tween each risingContinue reading “The Fathers’ Source”
Hoping for Clarity 