10
One God, Two Fathers:
Strict Father vs. Nurturing Parent
I will now concentrate on one fundamental metaphor in Christianity, which is God is a Father, and how
this metaphor plays out in two of my interviewees.
17 You’ve already met Edward, so let me present to you an older lady who goes by the name of “Mama”.
Mama is an African-American lady “over 60” who now lives in Berkeley, California and runs a mission for
the homeless. Her mother was not present from early, and she talks about her father, a very large man,
who liked to drink and who had many wives and many other families. Nonetheless, her father was very
nurturing and she loved him very much. When he died, she was alone and homeless and started stealing,
doing drugs, and sleeping around. Nonetheless, she always felt the presence of God in her life, guiding and
protecting her.
For Mama, God is like a father, and in many ways like her real father. As a matter of fact, every time but
once during our interview when Mama talks about God in fatherly terms, she then mentions her own
father shortly after. This could simply indicate that when she reasons in terms of this metaphor, her
source domain is highly present. For example in this first clip Mama talks about how she and her friends
had been doing drugs and were driving along a bridge. All of a sudden she yelled to stop the car, and
luckily she did because they were going to die, but she doesn’t know what made her scream : [CLIP mama-
X big-father 11’’]
18 Now, in this other clip, Mama confesses how she was ready to stop doing drugs and she abandoned herself
to God. Notice she’ll mention three things that were everything for her: at one point it was her father, then
it was being a drug addict (like her father), and finally now, God the Father is her everything. [CLIP mama-
took-father 30’’]
Clip 3: Mama
1. ^Iprayedto <God I know I'm doin’wro::ng> #
2. ‘n I know gyou don't want me to u:se dru:gs #
3. ↑and I actually I really don't want to use 'em either #
4. but Father (2.5) I'm tired / it's the only thing I got #
5. but I didn't know He: was the only thing I really had #
6. ’n the:n so: /
7. I loved my father so much ^ He took my father from me ≠
8. and that led me (1.5) by myself