Voices: Another story of abuse and cover-ups in church

I have an important story to share. It’s not about me; it’s about some relatively famous Christian theologians and preachers. More importantly, it’s about domestic abuse and cover-ups.

In the following story, I have switched names to make a particular point. You will need to read all the way to the end for maximum clarity.

An ill-advised partnership

In 2015, when Mark Dever and Ligon Duncan were working on preparations for the Together for the Gospel conference happening that year, they decided to partner with the young theologian Andy Naselli, who is closely associated with John Piper. But there was a problem.

Andy had gotten a divorce in 2009, and in 2014, his ex-wife Julie McMahon had started going public with allegations of severe domestic abuse Andy allegedly had committed against her during and after their marriage. Julie reached out to Dever and Duncan personally, urging them to listen to her story and not give Andy a platform at their conference.

Both men refused to believe Julie and told her to stop contacting them. However, some people in the Together for the Gospel circle publicly began calling for clarification and explanation. They were disturbed by why Dever and Duncan would partner with an accused spousal abuser.

An inadequate response

Duncan responded as follows:

I take abuse allegations very seriously, and if I had good reason to believe Andy was an abuser and these allegations were credible, I wouldn’t work with him on a conference. But my personal experience with and diligent investigation of this situation has given me reason to doubt that this is the case. … There’s always the chance I’m wrong, of course, but I’ve made the decision to continue participating in the conference with Mark. To debate the circumstances of another couple’s divorce further, in this forum, would be unwise—legally and ethically—so I’m not going to comment on it again, and I’m going to have to moderate comments so that the comment section isn’t inundated with rumors, which I also take very seriously.

Dever’s response was even more severe. On Twitter, he labelled Julie McMahon’s accusations as “false things (that are) being said about myself and my dear friends,” and he even labeled McMahon’s supporters as a mob wielding “digital pitchforks.” Later, in April 2015, Dever wrote a glowing review of Naselli’s most recent book.

To date, neither Dever nor Duncan have apologized publicly for or repented of this, even though there is strong evidence supporting McMahon’s claims.

An admission of deceit

This story is deeply disturbing and important to know. But I must admit at this point that what I’ve said above is not 100 percent true.

All of the events described are 100 percent real, but I’ve swapped names. Julie McMahon’s name is the actual name of the person involved, but the others are not.

Andy Naselli is not the divorced theologian McMahon accused of serious abuse. That theologian’s real name is Tony Jones. He’s a famous progressive theologian associated, not with John Piper, but with Doug Pagitt and Brian McLaren.

The conference in question was not the 2015 Together for the Gospel conference. Together for the Gospel doesn’t even have conferences on odd-numbered years. The event was the 2015 WX15/Why Christian? conference.

Finally, Mark Dever and Ligon Duncan’s names have replaced the names of Nadia Bolz-Weber and Rachel Held Evans.

Other than the names of everyone but McMahon, everything I wrote in the story above is completely true.

Why the deception?

Why did I do this? Why replace the names, engaging in subterfuge and deception? I did it to make a point.

Conservative evangelicalism in the United States—particularly the Calvinistic and complementarian branch—has come under fire in the past several years for stuff like this. Mark Driscoll, John MacArthur, CJ Mahaney and others have been publicly condemned—rightly—for enabling abuse, engaging in abuse and/or covering up abuse.

There have been so many stories like this that it’s easy for some to believe what I wrote when the names are those of men in that Calvinist circle. The idea something like this could or would happen in more moderate or progressive circles is much harder to believe for some.

I switched the names to help preempt a double-standard. Whatever emotions you felt as you read the story, thinking the atrocious actions in question had been committed by popular Calvinist preachers, those are the same emotions we should feel when someone in the moderate or progressive “camp” does such things.

The response we think is appropriate to abuse and cover-ups in Calvinist and/or conservative evangelical spaces is the same response we should have to abuse and cover-ups in moderate or progressive Christian spaces.

Abuse, gaslighting and such abominations are not unique to any denomination or theological tradition. No branch of Christianity is safe, and God help us if we ever let our theological tribal loyalties blind us to that fact.

Joshua Sharp is the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Orange, and a graduate of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary in Waco. This article is adapted from his original post on Facebook. The views expressed are those of the author