While Mr. McEachern isn't the biological father of Joe Christmas, it's obvious that he played a role in shaping Joe as a child. At an older age, he is quick to act violently. He beats the woman in the shed before he is stopped by the other farmhands, and fights them as they try to stop him. He beats Bobbie the waitress, he smashes a chair over Mr. McEachern's head, he beats Joe Brown, and he trades blows with Joanna Burden. Joe continues on a violent path, eventually beheading Burden. Initially as a child in the orphanage, we see no evidence of violence from Christmas.
Christmas is adopted at the age of 5 by Mr. McEachern, who insists on using beatings to enforce his lessons. Joe is given an unreasonably short period of time to learn his catechism, and when he is unsuccessful he receives a beating. The beatings continue until Joe collapses. The extended use of McEachern's violence shapes Joe negatively, molding him into a brush fire waiting to happen. At the slightest pin drop, Christmas lashes out, just as McEachern would when a young Joe was unable to learn something immediately. Eventually, McEachern's methods led to his own death(I think) as teenage Joe retaliates and smashes a chair over his head, WWE style.
I agree that the hand McEachern has had in Joe's development in glaring. It's still probably conjecture, but it might also be a cool wrap-up to your point to hint that these same methods which Christmas has adopted may be leading to his death as well.
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