The Word of Truth and Disputes about Words

Observing that the amount of discussion regarding the issue of inerrancy and the seminal conclusions which should have arisen from such intense debate are widely disparate, Farrow offers an approach to Scripture which seeks to incorporate once again a sense that God speaks to man through Scripture. Though all points on the methodological spectrum may claim some adherents, Farrow observes two primary, opposing approaches. Both are to one degree or another cavalier in their treatments. On the one hand there exists the "libertarian mode, championing the responsibility of the free-thinking and free-acting individual" who may be concerned more with "man's intellectual integrity" than with seeing Scripture as a vehicle through which God has spoken to fallen humans in the past, and continues to do so - always forcefully. On the other hand Farrow notes within some an excessive concern with the "maintenance of a sacred preserve of words." This concern can muffle God's voice, both because Scripture may become the servant of a cause and because reexamination of doctrinal formulations per se may become unacceptable. Farrow boldly explains that "there is a need to allow biblical expressions and compositions their proper freedom and flexibility as message-bearers. To these endeavors I would like to lend a helping hand, or at least a voice of approval, for through them the Church may clearly establish her commitment to the Word of Truth and her discomfort with unnecessary disputes about words" (from the Preface).