D.Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Studies) / The God of the Bible is like an axiom, never proved, yet the basis of all life and living. Axioms are never proved, but they are the essential presuppositions on which every other proof rests. But this does not say that the idea of God in the Bible does not change. Man's grasp of the character of God developed from age to age and from centuary to centuary often due to particular socio-political circumstances. It began with some primitive ideas about God. God was regarded as a storm god dwelling in a mountain, whose major activity was war. He was also seen as a person, physical I y embodied, though superhumanIy powerfulI, who could conceivably be seen and who, in the earliest strata of the Scripture walked and talked, wrestled, dined and smelled and who shared with man a wide gamut of good and bad emotions. Further, in those earliest times God was a tribal god. He was the possession of the people of Israel, just as the people of Israel was his possession. God's power is also thought to be limited to his territory and to his people. This limitation to the power of God is to some extent taken away when God becomes the God of Canaan, for then He became an agricultural god as well. In the wilderness journeys there had been no possibility of this, but once the people came to Canaan they got into contact with the Canaanite Baals who were not only giving victory in battle...

Fatherhood has become an area of research that has attracted a considerable amount of media attention and interest within the social sciences in the twentieth century. Historically, the evolution of the concept fatherhood has led to many discourses circulating within many cultural settings. Until now, there has been a voluminous diverse body of work regarding the construction of fatherhood. Research has mainly focused on the effects fathers have on childhood development; fatherhood and masculinity; the cultural representation of fatherhood; and father involvement to name a few. However there is a significant lack of research pertaining to the subjective experiences of fathers who have encountered the world of illness from a South African context. At the same time, there is little body of knowledge relating to fatherhood and disability. This study aims to explore the subjective experiences of the fathers’ worlds so as to answer the question, “How do fathers make sense of limb loss due to diabetes, through narrative?” This is to aid in the understanding of the significance of fathers and their relationship with illness. In order to attain this, a qualitative approach to research was applied where the participants were recruited through the application of snowball sampling. Given the narrative framework, the narratives of the participants serve as the source of information. This is reflected in the research techniques administered. Semi-structured interviews were utilised as a means of data collection. The analysis was conducted using the transcriptions from the interview material allowing the text to illustrate how culture and history affect the manner in which experiences are narrated. Highlighted within this study is how the application of a qualitative approach within the ranks of narrative psychology provided a useful exploration into the subjective experiences of fathers who have lost a limb due to diabetes. The results were set out giving a useful indication of how culture and history shapes experiences and what meanings are constructed thereof. From a cultural stance three cultures were investigated thus allowing access into unknown domains. However further research needs to be explored so as to enrich the fatherhood topic from a South African context, thus offering multiple realities of the construction of fatherhood. / Dissertation (MA (Counselling Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / MA / unrestricted

Male survivors of abuse who become fathers themselves face challenges different from female survivors, such as conceptualizing their roles as providers and heads of households after the traumatic and often belittling experiences of abuse. However, very few researchers have studied the connection between child abuse and fatherhood, and none specific to young African American fathers. An interpretative phenomenological approach enabled exploration of how African American fathers who were abused as children, conceptualized and perceived their own experiences with fatherhood. The theoretical framework for this study was identity theory, which indicates that how people conceptualize a social role influences their actions in that role. Research questions centered on how young African American fathers, who were abused as children, conceptualized fatherhood and carried out their roles as fathers. Data collected from 11 young African American fathers came through in-depth, semistructured interviews. Key findings showed participants conceptualized fatherhood as being present for, providing for, and protecting their children. These fathers worked to break the cycle of abuse they had experienced and to show support for their children. Implications to promote social change include use of study findings to develop parenting programs that address childhood trauma. Other benefits may come from developing groups for father with children in the foster care system, helping these men to understand why they parent the way they do and to break the destructive cycle of parenting they had experienced. Findings may also contribute to the establishment of fatherhood programs that match fathers with supportive role models who help in navigating the father role.

Male survivors of abuse who become fathers themselves face challenges different from female survivors, such as conceptualizing their roles as providers and heads of households after the traumatic and often belittling experiences of abuse. However, very few researchers have studied the connection between child abuse and fatherhood, and none specific to young African American fathers. An interpretative phenomenological approach enabled exploration of how African American fathers who were abused as children, conceptualized and perceived their own experiences with fatherhood. The theoretical framework for this study was identity theory, which indicates that how people conceptualize a social role influences their actions in that role. Research questions centered on how young African American fathers, who were abused as children, conceptualized fatherhood and carried out their roles as fathers. Data collected from 11 young African American fathers came through in-depth, semistructured interviews. Key findings showed participants conceptualized fatherhood as being present for, providing for, and protecting their children. These fathers worked to break the cycle of abuse they had experienced and to show support for their children. Implications to promote social change include use of study findings to develop parenting programs that address childhood trauma. Other benefits may come from developing groups for father with children in the foster care system, helping these men to understand why they parent the way they do and to break the destructive cycle of parenting they had experienced. Findings may also contribute to the establishment of fatherhood programs that match fathers with supportive role models who help in navigating the father role.

Studies on African fatherhood represent African fathers as problematic and in South Africa, they are identified as ‘‘emotionally disengaged, physically absent, abusive and do not pay for their children's upkeep'' (Morrell & Ritcher, 2006:81). Many studies link the high rates of absent fathers to poverty and irresponsibility. Such literature is devoid of cultural factors that might be contributing to the high rates of absent fathers in most African communities. Across Southern Africa, intlawulo, a customary practice that involves the paying of a fine by a man responsible for impregnating a woman out of wedlock and his family to the pregnant woman's family. Historically, intlawulo served as a critical means of regulating and mediating unmarried fathers' involvement in their children's lives. Therefore, this explorative qualitative research project explores African fathers' experiences of intlawulo and its subsequent links to father involvement. To gauge their experiences and interpretation of intlawulo and father involvement, I conducted face-to-face in-depth qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of 8 black Xhosa speaking South African fathers from Cape Town who have gone through the intlawulo negotiations for the past five years or less. This study aimed to explore how the customary practice of intlawulo or ‘paying damages' influences a father's involvement in his child's life in Khayelitsha, an urban township within Cape Town. It argued that the payment of intlawulo regulates a father's involvement in childrearing, his interaction with and access to his child. In contrast to how fathering has been described in previous literature, this thesis argues that becoming a father is a process and intlawulo is the entry point where it can be denied, stopped and negotiated.

Syftet med denna studie var att lyfta fram pappors beskrivningar av att vara förälder utifrån deras förväntningar av vad en pappa respektive en man är. Detta för att få en överblick kring vilka förutsättningar och hinder män kan stå inför vid uttag av sin rätt till föräldraledighet. För att besvara frågeställningarna har ett kvalitativt metodologiskt angreppssätt använts i form av ostrukturerade intervjuer med öppna frågor. Urvalet i studien var sju fäder med minst ett barn under tre år. Intervjuerna genomfördes genom personligt möte med fem pappor och via telefon med de återstående papporna. De teman som diskuterades under intervjuerna var föräldraskap, arbete och försörjning, papparollen, mansrollen, föräldrastöd och förväntningar på sin partner och vice versa. Insamlad empiri analyserades utifrån en innehållsanalys där kodning och tematisering användes. I studien användes Raewyn Connells teori om olika maskuliniteter och George Herbert Meads teori om symboliska interaktionism som teoretiska utgångspunkter. Dessa teorier användes för att förstå mäns villkor i hur de kan utöva deras rätt till föräldraledighet. Detta genom att lyfta fram vilka barriärer män kan stå inför i förhållande till könsnormer, samt hur de hanterar dessa genom att belysa deras interaktion med andra människor. Resultatet visar att en destruktiv hegemonisk maskulinitet kan utgöra svårigheter för mäns föräldraskap, medan en uppmuntrande hegemonisk maskulinitet tillåter män att våga trotsa ideal om att de inte är hemma med sina barn. Med våra informanters berättelser kunde författarna skilja på en lojalitet gentemot informanternas arbetsplats som kan förklaras i Meads teori om den generaliserade andre. Interaktionen mellan kollegor och andra människor kan utgöra en tvingande arbetskultur som hindrar män att nyttja sina rättigheter. Studien framhäver att även om staten har upprättat reformer som främjar jämlikhet, till exempel de öronmärkta föräldradagarna, kan manlighetsideal förstås hindra staten från att nå sitt mål. / The purpose of this study was to highlight fathers’ descriptions of their expectations of what a father and a man are. The writers of this study aimed to get an overview of different conditions and barriers men can face when exercising their right to parental leave. To answer these questions was a qualitative method in terms of semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions used. The selection in the study was seven fathers with at least one child under three years. The interviews were conducted by a personal meeting with five of the fathers, while two interviews took place over the phone with the two remaining fathers. During the interview’s themes such as parenthood, employment and livelihood, the role of a father, the role of a man, parental support and expectations on their partner and vice versa were introduced. The empirical data is analyzed through a content analysis method, where coding and thematization were used. The study used Raewyn Connell’s theory of different masculinities and George Herbert Mead’s symbolic interaction as theoretical starting points. These theories were used to understand which barriers men face from gender norms and how they handle them being shown through interaction with other people. These conditions can avert men from exercising their right to parental leave. The result shows that a destructive hegemonic masculinity can pose difficulties for men’s parenthood, while an encouraging hegemonic masculinity allows men to dare to defy ideals about them not being home with their children. With our informant’s narrative we were able to distinguish a loyalty towards their workplace which could be emblematized in Mead’s notion about the generalized other. The interaction with colleagues and other people can constitute a coercive work culture that prevents men's protection of their rights. The study highlights that even though the state has established reforms that promote equality, for example the gender-segregated parental days, masculinity ideals can prevent the state from reaching its goal.

Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / International research over the past two decades has advanced knowledge in the study of fathers and the protective role they play in the prevention of adolescent risk behaviours. Studies have often investigated parental relationships and their influence on adolescent risk behaviours but rarely the specific role of the adolescents’ relationships with their fathers or father figures in prevention of risk behaviour.Three main hypotheses were investigated: first, that the theoretically aligned dimensions of relationship quality would be nomogically validated; second, that there would be little significance difference in the dimensions of relationship quality across groupings of father residential status; and third, that the quality of the fatherson relationship is a stronger predictor of risk behaviour than father’s residential status (whether the adolescent lived with the father or not), or whether the “father” is a biological father or not. Three samples of adolescents were included: a fatherresident group (biological fathers reside in the adolescents’ homes) (N = 196); a nonresident group (biological fathers live elsewhere) (N = 72); and a father figure group(no contact with biological father) (N = 58). The school-based sample of 331 participants all resided in a low-income area of Cape Town. Risk behaviours were investigated using the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers(POSIT). Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) risk behaviour was assessed on a POSIT sub-scale designed specifically for South Africa, the POSIT HIV/STD Risk Subscale. Paternal relationship quality was measured by the Acceptance subscale of the revised Child Report of Parent Behavior Inventory, the Child-Parent Communication Apprehension Scale for Use with Young Adults, and a measure of paternal quality contact time that was developed for this study. After conducting a factor analysis the Paternal Quality Contact Time Scale was found to have three factors: the father’s availability, activities engaged in together, and the motivation of the son to spend time with his father (including the son’s enjoyment of the time spent). This provides an extension to past conceptualizations of father-son contact which commonly assessed only the amount of time and activities engaged in. The dimensions of paternal relationship quality were found to be strongly associated.Linear regressions showed that father-son communication was the stronger predictor of risk behaviours when compared to father residential status. Paternal communication was a predictive factor for mental health risk, negative family relations, educational under-attainment, aggressive and violent behaviour and HIV/STD risk behaviours for adolescent boys. These findings confirm that fathers play an important protective role with regard to the development of adolescent risk behaviours. They also confirm that paternal relationship quality plays a more significant role, specifically the dimension of communication between them, than whether fathers live with their sons or are biologically related to them. The findings suggest a need to address the issues of building relationships between at-risk youth and their fathers (be they biological fathers or father figures) through community and clinical interventions.

This thesis focuses on the area of prenatal preparation for men, who are seen as secondary in the area of parenthood. In spite of the still prevailing traditional gender division of roles in Czech family there are alternative forms, which give a chance not only for men, but also for women to choose between private and public sphere. For the purpose of this thesis a qualitative research of prenatal courses for heterosexual couples has been realized with the goal to understand and give a description of construction of fatherhood. The research focuses on the way of reproduction and discruption of gender stereotypes in connection with parenthood, especially fatherhood, and how men experience their new parental role - how they harmonize traditional and contemporary demands. Even though active fatherhood can not be considered as a prototype of western fatherhood, it is important to make it visible and speak about it, because the equal in the family is the first step for the equal status and opportunities for women and men in the public sphere.

The diploma thesis focuses on the perception of family, upbringing and parenthood from the perspective of fathers. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces key definitions and theoretical conceptions related to family, childrearing, parenthood and fatherhood, including historical changes in the perception of these concepts. Furthermore, functions of the family, the diversity of family roles, and relationships between family members are discussed in the context of current knowledge about gender aspects of family systems. The empirical part of the thesis is based on qualitative research design. The aim of the empirical part is to explore via in-depth interviews with young fathers how these fathers perceive and experience their role as fathers, whether and how they perceive social changes of the father's role and how they relate to these changes.

Denna studie syftar till att analysera hur fäders syn på faderskap i relation till hegemonisk maskulinitet och jämställdhet kan påverka föräldraskapet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten som användes var Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet samt kritiken riktad mot den. Urvalet består av sex fäder där somliga var föräldralediga, några studerade och resterande arbetade. Deras yrkesbakgrunder varierade mellan socialt arbete, data och IT, skolväsendet och hantverkarbranschen. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultaten har visat att traditionell och ny maskulinitetsideologi verkar tävla om inflytande vad gäller hegemonisk status, men även att fäder i jämställdhetens namn både kan upprätthålla och göra avkall på en överordnad position i föräldraskapet. Utifrån resultaten har studien konstaterat att fäders tankesätt kring arbetsfördelning, ansvar och avlastning till viss del leder till att modern blir familjens projektledare och att fadern konstrueras till en andrahandsförälder, likväl som fädernas medvetenhet och engagemang för jämställdhet i föräldraskapet kan motverka denna problematik. Avslutningsvis har studien sammanlänkat fäders resonemang om jämställdhet och maskulinitet i relation till delaktighet och ansvar i faderskapet, vilket synliggjort hur det potentiellt finns samband mellan strukturella och relationella problem på individ- och familjenivå. / This study aims to analyze how fathers' views on fatherhood in relation to hegemonic masculinity and egalitarianism can affect parenthood. The theoretical framework was Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity and the critique against it. The sample were six fathers whom either worked, studied or were on parental leave. Their professional backgrounds varied between social work, data and IT, school, and craftsmanship. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed with thematic analysis. The results have shown that traditional and new masculinity ideology seem to compete for influence in terms of hegemonic status, but also that fathers use egalitarianism both to maintain and relinquish a superior position in parenthood. Based on the results, the study has found that father's mind-set about division of labor, responsibility and relief to some extent leads to the mother becoming the family's project manager and that the father is constructed as a second parent, but also that fathers' awareness and commitment to equality in parenthood can counteract this problem. In conclusion, the study linked fathers' reasoning about equality and masculinity in relation to participation and responsibility in paternity, which later showed how it potentially can cause relational problems at the individual and family level.