"The End of Words"*

"I believe it is important to say more about what we can affirm, what we have experienced, what we do know experimentally--and correspondingly less about what we don't believe, cannot accept, or find offensive. A vocal ministry that never rises above these negatives will rarely be helpful in building up the community."

--Tom Gates "'Beyond What Words Can Utter:' Thoughts on Religious Language" Opening the Scriptures: Bible Lessons from the 2005 Annual Gathering of Friends. Quaker Press, 2006 p.22


*_{The name of this extraordinary article and the title of this post both come from a Penington quote: "And the end of words is to bring [us] to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter. So, learn of the Lord to make a right use of scriptures: which is esteeming them in their right place, and prizing above them that which is above them."}