Tony Payne likes a scrap over difficult terrain, and Fatherhood is everything you'd expect from the award-winning author of Islam in our backyard. It is fiesty and forthright. It is edifying and entertaining.
In his easy-to-read style, Tony pulls no punches in presenting what the Bible says about this often contentious subject. After quoting the whole of the Ephesians 5 passage that begins "wives submit to your husbands…', Tony concludes, "That's what the authority of a husband and father is like. It's about being in charge and saying what goes; it's about making decisions and taking the lead. But it's making decisions for the sake of others." (p58)
No turgid scholarly work, Fatherhood nevertheless majors on Bible teaching not practical "DIY advice'. It offers dads the big picture campaign strategy, not front-line techniques.
For example, Tony presents very clearly the Bible's perspective on where a father's responsibility begins and ends in seeing their kids come to Christ. And as the paranoid father of a six-year-old, I found this a great encouragement not to stress every time my child's enthusiasm at prayer time wilts. But this isn't really advice for those dads already battling in the trenches. A father of a rebellious teenager might be left disappointed that the author offers no tips on how to tackle a child who has already walked away from Christ.
In the end, we need more books like this one that "disciple' us in the fundamentals rather than offer whimsical anecdotes.
