By John B. Carpenter
It’s not sexy, but it’s a scandal. The editors of The Gospel Coalition’s (TGC) flagship academic journal, Themelios, which TGC unfailingly promotes as “peer-reviewed,” break commitments with writers, disregard the verdicts of their expert reviewers, thus putting out a typical editor-curated magazine but in the name of a “peer-reviewed journal.”
The issues are three: (1) broken commitments, including telling contributors that their articles are accepted and asking them to do substantial work to make them “as good as” they can be, and then breaking that commitment; (2) bogus reasons given that no serious academic would propose; and (3) a fraud on the academic community by holding up a publication as “peer-reviewed journal” that is really an editor-curated magazine.
First, on June 3, 2024, the general editor, Brian Tabb, promised me, “I’m pleased to accept your article … for publication in Themelios.” That’s an iron-clad commitment. He made no stipulations that publication depends on revisions or anything. Echoing the same promise, the managing elder of Themelios, JV Fesko, assured me on January 1, 2025, that my article “will appear in the … journal.” “Will” is unequivocal. He had some suggestions to make the article “as good as it can be,” but the deal was done. In court, these commitments would have the force of a verbal contract. A promise via email constitutes a verbal contract that could be enforced legally (according to the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act). Tabb gave a clear, definite promise, which resulted in a reasonable reliance upon that promise, and a resulting detriment due to that reliance (the time and expense put into improving the accepted article, etc). This results in a “promissory estoppel,” in legalese. Even by the standards of our secular society, Tabb’s broken promise is unacceptable.
Second, the “reasons” – really excuses – were lame. Fesko claimed Martin Luther didn’t teach baptismal regeneration. But he did. Just read Luther’s catechism on baptism. I double-checked my article with professors from my Lutheran seminary. Further, they seriously argued that church discipline was not practiced before the Reformation and that church discipline has been regularly practiced since. This, they somehow reasoned, proves that the doctrine of regeneration has changed. They even seriously suggested that R. C. Sproul, when informal, is not a good spokesman for Reformed theology. I’m not kidding. Further, they accused my article of having inadequate sources. Themelios’ expert reviewer concluded my article was “well researched, covers the material adequately, and is presented in a logical format that makes it easy for the reader to follow.” We have to ask why Tabb and Fesko were making contrary to their own expert reviewer.
That brings us to the third issue: fraud on the academic community, which is fraud on us all. “Peer-reviewed” means that articles are reviewed by expert scholars who assess the articles without knowing the authors’ identities. It’s called “blind review.” While the editor may initially screen submissions to ensure they meet minimum academic standards, the decisive say on whether an article is published should rest with the anonymous scholars. The “blind review” process mitigates the potential for bias, so articles are not accepted just because the author is a big name who will garner a lot of clicks or rejected because he or she is a small fry, like me, who can be disregarded. Articles are to be accepted on their merits. But Themelios publishes articles deemed “not good enough” by an expert reviewer, if the editor likes them or articles chosen for the star-power of the writer (like an obviously non-anonymous recent article in Themelios by Kevin DeYoung); articles approved by a reviewer, like mine, are vetoed by the editor. Calling that “peer-reviewed” is fraudulent.
To be recognized as a scholar requires being published. Cheating me of being published because a theologically biased editor decides he doesn’t like the verdict of his expert reviewer is damaging to me. If I applied for a professorship, it could make the difference between a pay-check and none. But, worse, it cheats the whole system in which scholarship is supposed to be recognized fairly. Then, it affects you. This may seem far removed from your day-to-day life. But if our Christian universities, seminaries, and ministries are staffed by people who routinely engage in fraud and are unfaithful in their publishing, who lie to contributors and discriminate against traditions they don’t like, the spiritual wreckage will eventually reach you downstream.
John B. Carpenter (@CovenantReform2), Ph.D., is pastor of Covenant Reformed Baptist Church and the author of Seven Pillars of a Biblical Church (Wipf & Stock, 2022) and the Covenant Caswell substack.
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