“Abba is not Hebrew, the language of liturgy, but Aramaic, the language of home and everyday life . . . We need to be wary of the suggestion . . . that the correct translation of Abba is ‘Daddy.’ Abba is the intimate word of a family circle where that obedient reverence was at the heart of the relationship, whereas Daddy is the familiar word of a family circle from which all thoughts of reverence and obedience have largely disappeared . . . The best English translation of Abba is simply ‘Dear Father.'”
Thomas Allan Smail, The Forgotten Father
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