Young, Restless and... Nietzschean?
November 29, 2013
Over at First Thoughts, Collin Garbarino offers some very perceptive comments on the Driscoll plagiarism affair. He makes the point that such activity receives a failing grade at his university. I would only add that at Westminster it also involves automatic suspension from the degree program followed by discussion with the powers that be about whether Christian ministry is really an option for the perpetrator.
One sentence in particular stands out: 'Ghostwriting is lying, and plagiarism is stealing, and there seems to be a lot of it going around.' No further comment is necessary, for that says it all.
For some time now I have been harping on and on about the corrupting effects of celebrity
culture on conservative evangelicalism. I think I was wrong: we are not dealing these days with mere celebrities; the ethical transgressions we are witnessing would indicate that we are actually dealing with a form of evangelical Nietzscheanism whereby the leaders of the movement are, to borrow a phrase, beyond good and evil. This should have been clear when Driscoll embraced T D Jakes as a brother. If you can do that and still have the leaders of a flagship evangelical group wish you well in your future ministry as you depart from them, then the ethical precedent is set and the fix, as they say in America, is in. You are an evangelical Superman, transcending normal ethical categories --- though I suspect not so much because of a will to power as a will to PR.
My guess is that one of two scenarios will play out in the coming weeks. First, it is possible that the reformed evangelical world will take this opportunity to put its house in order in an open and public manner: those who were swift to criticise Ms. Mefferd will offer apologies as public as their original pejorative statements; publishers will pull books they know to be ghost-written and they will dismiss the brand names on the covers of the same from their list of approved authors; churches will suspend pastors who plagiarise or who employ ghost writers and place them under discipline; and other Christian organisations and conferences will withdraw their goodwill and invitations to speak from the same. This will cost money; it will not be popular in many quarters; but what price integrity? And what a powerful signal to the watching world.
Second, it is possible that we will see a re-run of the Elephant Room debacle. The whistleblowers will be maligned, marginalised and then safely ignored. Maybe, if we are lucky, there will be a public statement talking about 'errors of judgment' and 'mistakes that have been made' along with a humble commitment to 'do better in the future.' The movers and shakers will either keep silent or reassure everybody that it is all under control and being dealt with appropriately behind the scenes. A decent period of quiet will then ensue. And shortly thereafter it will be back to business as usual. That too, one might add, will be a powerful signal to the watching world.
As I have said before, I am not remotely postmillennial, so you can probably guess what I think will happen. As Karl Marx commented with reference to Louis Napoleon, history repeats itself -- the first time as tragedy, then as farce.
One sentence in particular stands out: 'Ghostwriting is lying, and plagiarism is stealing, and there seems to be a lot of it going around.' No further comment is necessary, for that says it all.
For some time now I have been harping on and on about the corrupting effects of celebrity
culture on conservative evangelicalism. I think I was wrong: we are not dealing these days with mere celebrities; the ethical transgressions we are witnessing would indicate that we are actually dealing with a form of evangelical Nietzscheanism whereby the leaders of the movement are, to borrow a phrase, beyond good and evil. This should have been clear when Driscoll embraced T D Jakes as a brother. If you can do that and still have the leaders of a flagship evangelical group wish you well in your future ministry as you depart from them, then the ethical precedent is set and the fix, as they say in America, is in. You are an evangelical Superman, transcending normal ethical categories --- though I suspect not so much because of a will to power as a will to PR.My guess is that one of two scenarios will play out in the coming weeks. First, it is possible that the reformed evangelical world will take this opportunity to put its house in order in an open and public manner: those who were swift to criticise Ms. Mefferd will offer apologies as public as their original pejorative statements; publishers will pull books they know to be ghost-written and they will dismiss the brand names on the covers of the same from their list of approved authors; churches will suspend pastors who plagiarise or who employ ghost writers and place them under discipline; and other Christian organisations and conferences will withdraw their goodwill and invitations to speak from the same. This will cost money; it will not be popular in many quarters; but what price integrity? And what a powerful signal to the watching world.
Second, it is possible that we will see a re-run of the Elephant Room debacle. The whistleblowers will be maligned, marginalised and then safely ignored. Maybe, if we are lucky, there will be a public statement talking about 'errors of judgment' and 'mistakes that have been made' along with a humble commitment to 'do better in the future.' The movers and shakers will either keep silent or reassure everybody that it is all under control and being dealt with appropriately behind the scenes. A decent period of quiet will then ensue. And shortly thereafter it will be back to business as usual. That too, one might add, will be a powerful signal to the watching world.
As I have said before, I am not remotely postmillennial, so you can probably guess what I think will happen. As Karl Marx commented with reference to Louis Napoleon, history repeats itself -- the first time as tragedy, then as farce.
