The Tyranny of the Expert — How Experts Like Dr. James White Are Used to Silence Dissent

In episode 14, I will discuss a phenomenon that we might call “the tyranny of the expert.” As Christians, we believe in the value and importance of education. In fact, Christians have the only true foundation for education. However, what happens when highly educated men use their academic credentials or ecclesiastical authority to silence dissent? What happens when these men act as though they are the final authority on all things, “the experts,” and therefore we should think what they think, believe what they believe, and listen to who they listen to?In order to do this, we are going to do a brief case study involving Dr. James White, a man who is highly respected in Reformed circles, and rightly so. In particular, we are going to examine his relationships and interactions with men like Michael Brown and Doug Wilson, and we will see them in stark contrast to how he interacts with fellow 1689 LBCF men like Joel Webbon and JD Hall. This will take us back to the debate over the Antioch Declaration, the Talmud, Judaism, and Zionism, where we will see the true dividing line in today’s Reformed Evangelicalism.The tyranny of the expert has come to influence all of us in profound ways which pertain to every single aspect of life. Let us see the tyranny of the expert for what it is, and let us break free from mental enslavement to it, in order that we may worship and serve the Lord with a pure and undefiled conscience. May the church, the universal body of Christ, be further purified and further united, and may Jesus Christ alone be exalted!