The doctrine of God the Father and God’s fatherhood has been largely neglected in contemporary Western Christianity. Although some scholars such as Thomas Smail, Gerald Bray, Fred Sanders, Ryan L. Rippee, and others recognize this neglection, few have traced its causes. This paper attempts to provide a theological and historical diagnosis for this particular symptom in the contemporary West and demonstrate the progress of the decline that was originated by the side effects of the pro-Nicene theology and developed in the subsequent generations.
The first part of the paper will briefly introduce the problem of the forgotten God the Father and fatherhood of God in the contemporary West. The main body of the paper examines several historical stages in Christian history. The development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the first five hundred years, especially in the post-Nicene period in the Latin tradition, paves the way for the possibility of the decline of the doctrine of God the Father and fatherhood of God through two ways: the division between the economic Trinity and the immanent Trinity and the tendency of emphasizing the one substance (ousia) of God over distinctive persons (hypostases). During the medieval period and in the subsequent Catholic theology, this tendency was intensified. In the Reformation, the situation was not worsened or improved since the doctrine of the Trinity is not the primary concern at that time. In the 19th Century, liberalism paid attention to God’s fatherhood but went to the wrong direction. Charismatic movement then shifts the attention to the third person of the Trinity. Contemporary Jesus Only advocates (Oneness Pentecostals, United Pent Church Intl, etc.) create more confusion.
Finally, the writer will summarize these theological shifts away from God the Father and fatherhood of God.