The ABBA Tradition

“We live in four worlds, and yet we forget. The ABBA tradition is a way of remembering, a way of bringing together again the scattered parts of our divided selves, a way of rediscovering who we are. This book is a part of that tradition. It begins with the world around us, our everyday world, and tells us a story, a history, a his-story and a her-story. Our story. This story witnesses to, points to, and leads us to a transpersonal experience and mysterious encounter with the holy one that gives our life and our history its meaning and purpose. It is a book about body, soul, spirituality, and mysticism, about the Western inner tradition, the Western mystical tradition, the history mystery.

This tradition has been taught continuously—person to person—for more than four thousand years. It is one story written first in the Torah, the five books of Moses, elaborated on and retold in the prophets and writings of the Hebrew Bible, told anew in the Greek language in the New Testament and told since in many ways and many tongues. It is the story Jesus tells in the Gospels. It is the pearl of great price, the secret hidden in plain view for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see. It is this tradition that Jesus lived, knew, shared, and taught. The New Testament reveals that tradition in the life and mission of Jesus. This book presents it once again in a modern form, attempting to share it in language and images that help us to remember that it is our story, the story of who we are and why we are now here.

The ABBA Tradition is about beginnings and endings, whences and wherefores. It’s a about where we come from and where we are going. It is the whole story of who we are, and hence, it is a holy story, a story about holy things. As we follow this way, we will be remembering our tradition, and we will also be remembering who we are, putting together again the dismembered and scattered parts of our divided selves.”