Few words cannot adequately praise this scholarly and uplifting work. Father Jerome Nyathi's treatise on the theology of priesthood and the role of the Father in society is indeed a triumphant first in its field. After an analysis of 'father' and 'priest-father' in linguistic terms and in the broader African context, the author moves on to examine paternalistic religions and a 'male' gendered God, with reference to feminism and structuralist approaches. There is also a section on the family and fatherhood - both in the spiritual and biological sense - offering hope in the face of acute challenges from materialism and the new culture of individualism. The author asks, How can the Church claim to be a 'family in Christ' and her workers in the field 'Fathers of a Christian family when fathers and families have become stigmatised concepts? Furthermore, the author gives well-researched answers to these problems and discusses the call to priesthood with reference to Presbyterorum Ordinis and other Vatican encyclicals. Here we find a message full of intelligence, humanity and optimism, with excellent advice for seminarians and working priest for the new millennium.