We’ve only just begun to live
-The Carpenters, We’ve Only Just Begun
White lace and promises
A kiss for luck and we’re on our way…
Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin’ it over, just the two of us
Workin’ together day to day
Together
I could have added this two-part series to the Gothard critique (see here) but I didn’t want it to get buried. The message is too important. It’s a message for all hard-working couples, but especially moms and dads. Over the next two weeks, I want to put to rest once and for all the stereotype that the bible teaches that men are supposed to be the primary financial providers for their families and women aren’t or can’t.
I’ve written in other places that the role of the ancient Near Eastern father was one of influence and involvement. In the early, medieval, and reformation era church, there were three main priorities in raising children: prepare them for a healthy marriage, teach them a trade with a family-supporting wage, and provide them with an education—especially a religious education through catechesis.[1] The father’s role was primary in all of this; he was a protector, a provider, a nurturer who fostered heart-to-heart connection, and a guide.
The central role of the father in the home was seriously altered by the Industrial Revolution, which caused a massive shift that affected families much more than is commonly understood. In the 1970s and 80s, the conservative evangelical church circles I grew up in were completely ignorant of this history. Their shallow analysis of the struggle to provide financially decried working moms and double income families. Most in these circles believed that the Leave it to Beaver or Ozzie and Harriet world of the 1950s was the biblical ideal. Serious Christians were those who unquestioningly made the stay-at-home mom model work. Those who struggled with this were deemed materialistic. Thus, rather than strengthening families, these churches passed on a fundamentalist guilt that has stolen much joy in the last fifty years from husbands and wives working together to provide for their children.[2]
Again, because the massive shift in culture is so poorly understood, I’ll conclude this post with a brief description of the Industrial Revolution, giving analysis and application next week. The Industrial Revolution, then, was “the process of change from an agrarian, handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacture.”[3] This process began with Britain’s economic development from 1760 to 1840, but spread to other countries and overlaps with what is often called the Second Industrial Revolution that lasted from 1870–1914, just before World War I.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the main features involved in the Industrial Revolution were technological, socioeconomic, and cultural. Just to get a glimpse of this, the technological changes included:
(1) the use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel, (2) the use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-combustion engine, (3) the invention of new machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power loom that permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of human energy, (4) a new organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed increased division of labor and specialization of function, (5) important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph, and radio, and (6) the increasing application of science to industry. These technological changes made possible a tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass production of manufactured goods.[4]
Next week, we’ll see how the Industrial Revolution impacted families and especially father involvement. We’ll also make some application that—though it won’t provide you with a better job if you need one—will bring uncommon perspective and encouragement as you work hard every day with your spouse.
[1] I cite several examples in my doctoral thesis, Fathering Well: The Neglected Missional Priority.
[2] For example, in the Bible, the ideal ancient Near Eastern woman or mom was intelligent, fully capable, respected, and worked to provide for her family financially: “Her husband has full confidence in her… She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard… She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes… let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” (Proverbs 31:11a, 16, 24, 31b, NIV)
[3] “Industrial Revolution,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed July 2, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-Revolution.
[4] Ibid.