I thought we were done with this, but apparently not. If you want to catch up on the previous reviews you can go to Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. This was supposed to be over, but I suppose as a dog returns to it’s vomit so Mike Cosper returns to Mars Hill.
Cosper continues to make my jaw drop, and that is not a complement. A couple of days ago, out of a clear blue sky dropped a fresh episode of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It was like seeing the company the built the Hindenburg launch a new lead balloon named the Hubris. There was a short introduction that could be summed up as: while the main body of Rise and Fall was being produced the Publisher, Christianity Today, was rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct at the highest levels. So a bonus episode was recorded to remind everyone that while CT leadership did wrong, no one should ever forget that Mark Driscoll is worse.
The basic problem is that the episode has nothing whatsoever to do with Driscoll or Mars Hill. By my count Driscoll received three name drops. Always in the context of reminding us that Driscoll is a bad man who was “abusive.” The vast majority of the episode amounts to two interviews that are verbal victory laps for CT on how they, checks notes, failed to handle allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of their editor-in-chief and have yet to do anything about it other then put a note in his file… Wait, I forgot to mention that they worked over time to use all the right words about lamenting, listening, and “doing better.”
The real kicker for me was the admission that nothing has, or will be done to the people involved in the “unhealthy culture” or failure to discipline Galli. We are supposed to just sort of accept the fact and move on as if there is nothing to see. At the same time we are reminded that no grace should ever be shown to Driscoll and it is a travesty of justice that he has not been made to pay for his crimes. And when you stack Driscoll’s allegations up against Galli’s I am kind of wondering if we are not labeling the wrong person here as Satan incarnate. Driscoll was/is prideful or narcissistic, has a temper, upset and offended a lot of people, Galli molested women among other things. But it’s nice to see that Cosper has his priorities straight.
The whole episode boils down to the obnoxious, and at this point unarguable fact, that the entire podcast was designed as a hit job on complementarian theology. It is openly admitted in the episode that the staff of CT is egalitarian and they disagree with complementarianism. They go out of their way to highlight failures that have happened in complementarian circles. But they are either willfully ignorant of or fail to understand abusus non tollit usum. The entire episode could be used to show that egalitarian theology should be scrapped because Galli’s actions were the logical conclusion of their philosophy.
In an effort to be charitable, I will assume for the moment that egalitarianism is a legitimate and Biblical position to hold. Galli then was merely the exception, not the rule. Women in this system are not only empowered but happy. Why then can this kind of good will not be extended to those of us who disagree. Why is Driscoll the standard that proves the rule and not an exception? Why are women who are complementarian told they are weak and too stupid to realize how miserable they should be. It’s a pretty arrogant position to take, especially seeing as how we have actual Scripture on our side, and don’t have to work long and hard to prove that God didn’t really mean what he actually said.
The one good thing that can be said about the Devil is that he is predictable. It is kind of upsetting that the same can be said about The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast. And shockingly, in what I suppose has been the closest thing we can consider a twist ending, it’s not actually over. Apparently we are not sufficiently aware of every single dirty detail about Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll. Is it just me or is this starting to feel dangerously close to the sin of gossip? At best it is just becoming a depressing eking out of former success, Cosper should realize he is in a position to fast becoming like a Shriner in his little red car and Fez, who had so much fun during the parade he flew round the block and comes back trailing behind the last float, waving furiously, trying to keep the parade from ending. While all of us are packing up our camp chairs and dispersing.
Southern Reformed Smoker 