beggar

I'm not a fan of Driscoll by any means. I think he has done a great deal more harm than good to the gospel. But the 'appeal to authority' critique leaves me cold. Frankly, I don't care whether or not Driscoll & his wife are 'experts,' because there is a great deal of value to be learned from people who aren't. It is the same reason why I don't turn *just* to my pastor when I want to know about Jesus. We may give more weight to the teaching of people who have studied things in depth, but we can learn from everyone. Some of the deepest theological insights in my life, I learned from my father, a 10th grade dropout.

If the critque had focused more on why applying Driscoll and his wife's specific experiences as solutions to other people's problems is a bad idea, it would have been more fair and helpful (and also less condescending). Because frankly, the problems of Driscoll have nothing to do with him offering up advice in areas outside his expertise. It is that the specific advice applied to unknown situations may lead to some very bad (or even dangerous) results. This would be so even if Dricoll were opining about things which he IS an expert, like building a megachurch. What worked in Mars Hill may not work other places, because specifics don't transfer without context.

Sorry, but this review just didn't help.