been good models of what fatherhood should look like, it should not be seen as inappropriate (then or now) to use such language for God. Indeed, to eschew using such language altogether is to deliberately disobey Jesus’ command that when we pray to God we should at least some of the time pray to God as abba, just as Jesus did himself. A canonical approach to God language will indeed wish to affirm the proper use of the traditional God language while also emphasizing that other sorts of language,