THE SHADOW OF PATRIARCHY IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY Since the 1980s there has been a movement in the United States by conservatives to return to “traditional values.” One of these so called traditional values is that which is known as patriarchy. In the Merriam Webster dictionary patriarchy is defined as “social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly: control by men of a disproportionately large share of power.” Many African American families have a tendency to assimilate the majority culture in their relationships with other family members. The assimilation of the patriarchal culture in African American families has been detrimental to both women and men; wives and husbands; daughters and sons. This patriarchal mindset which many African American families have internalized, does not seem to help the family achieve its goals, but rather what this perspective does is inhibit the family from reaching its fullest potential by causing its’ female members to feel minimized in their importance to the family. This type of mindset also minimizes the male gender’s contribution in that it causes the male family member to not be fully aware of the females’ importance and contribution to the welfare of the family. What is most problematic about this familial phenomenon is that it is cloaked in a theological cover that makes it seem as if patriarchy is a theological truth that is infallible. Paul Tillich states in his systematic theology that human beings confuse eternal truth with the temporal expression of this truth. Tillich further states that “the theological truth of yesterday is defended as an unchangeable message of the theological truth of today and tomorrow….It elevates something that is finite and transitory to infinite and eternal validity.” African American Families must move beyond the westernized patriarchal values of the majority culture into those sacred and eternal values where all are one in Christ, and they will be able to say with the Apostle Paul “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Stay tuned there is more...this is Part One of a Five part Series entitled: The Shadow of Patriarchy in the African American Family and Community Yeshuas Blessings Pastor Phil References: 1. Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology Volume One (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951), 2. Holy Bible Galatians 3:28.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 03:58:49 +0000