Those who know me would hardly peg me as an apologist for The Gospel Coalition. For those who don’t know me, they may want to consult this piece, posted almost eight years ago to the date:
A Few Thoughts for My Friends in the Gospel Coalition (by David Moore)
One tweak to that post based on feedback I received from Justin Taylor is that Denny Burk is part of Together for the Gospel not The Gospel Coalition. That correction was gladly received from Justin, but the nub of my overall concerns with The Gospel Coalition were not altered by that factual error. (My correction is also noted in the follow up post on The Gospel Coalition at the end of this post.)
Another update: Tim Challies wrote me this shortly after seeing my post:
“Denny is not part of Together for the Gospel and, I’m quite sure, has never been, unless he perhaps did a breakout for them or something. He is part of Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and a professor at Boyce College.”
Like Justin’s earlier correction, I gladly receive this one from Tim. Again, it does not alter the concerns I raised in my first post about The Gospel Coalition.
Many of you are aware of the controversy swirling around Joshua Ryan Butler’s book, Beautiful Union. I very much agree with Anthony Bradley that Butler’s publisher failed him by not offering the proper checks and balance. Granted, Butler’s book is a more popular level book, so the peer review that comes with academic works did not take place. However, given the nature of what Butler was writing, the publisher should have vetted it by utilizing scholars, both male and female, who have real expertise on the subject matter.
To keep this post short, my concern is that it is easy for all of us to dismiss and discredit a fellow believer (or Christian organization) we find in error, even and maybe especially so when the error(s) are serious.
Even those like Scot McKnight who is certainly not to be confused as an apologist for The Gospel Coalition (!) had very favorable things to say about Joshua Ryan Butler’s earlier books. And I should add that it was on Scot’s blog that he gave me the green light to write this appreciative follow up post about The Gospel Coalition: