An Interdisciplinary Evaluation Of The Relationship Between The Authority Figure Of The Father In The Family And The Authority Figure Of God In Religion

The family is a formal, methodical, and systematic institution consisting of a mother, father, and children, in which authority relationships are defined. Religion, on the other hand, is an institution that generates values and proposes a way of life, encompassing philosophical, psychological, and sociological dimensions, all systematized around an absolute authority. In the modern era, the shift from agricultural to industrial society, from rural to urban living, and from the extended to the nuclear family has transformed the understanding of authority in both the family and religion. This article aims to evaluate the relationship between the father, as the authority figure within the family, and the concept of divine authority in religion from an interdisciplinary perspective. The perspective and main arguments of this article are rooted in the philosophy of religion, while the concepts are drawn from the disciplines of sociology and psychology. This article aims to explore the possibility of explaining God's authority in religion through the authority of the father in the family, and to examine how the modern world's changes impact the authority within the Father-God relationship. Although numerous studies have investigated the family, none have explored the family–religion relationship through the lens of authority within the field of the philosophy of religion. The method of this article is literature analysis. Furthermore, analogy, as a method of reasoning, was utilized. This article concludes that the transformation of the father's authority within the family in the modern world has played a significant role in the transformation of God’s authority in religion. Furthermore, the study found that while the authority of God can be interpreted analogically through the authority of the father, this analogy does not justify a conclusion regarding God's existence.