The Gospel Coalition’s flagship journal, Themelios, has a problem with Baptists.
Despite TGC’s claims of theological diversity and their promotion of Themelios as a legitimate “peer-reviewed” journal, the evidence reveals systematic anti-Baptist discrimination that undermines both academic integrity and Christian unity.
J.V. Fesko, Themelios‘ managing editor, appears to be using his editorial position to suppress Baptist voices that challenge paedobaptist Reformed theology. I know this from personal experience.
John B. Carpenter
When an article I submitted to them exposed weaknesses in his theological position, rather than engage the arguments, he chose suppression — overriding their own expert reviewer, who approved the article for publication, to kill a piece that challenged his views.
This bias isn’t hidden. Anyone familiar with Fesko’s book Word, Water, and Spirit: A Reformed Perspective on Baptism will recognize his anti-Baptist prejudice. Throughout the work, Fesko assumes baptism functions as a covenant sign and implies that Baptists are benighted for rejecting this assumption. He dismisses historical evidence against infant baptism simply because Baptists cite it.
His treatment of Baptist scholars is particularly telling. Fesko scorns Wayne Grudem for allegedly failing to define “grace” precisely when Grudem praised God that our blessings are “all of grace.” Yet Grudem provides a precise definition of grace elsewhere in his 1994 Systematic Theology. Fesko ignored Grudem’s actual definition, twisted a genuine expression of praise, and mocked Grudem for showing “little definition or qualification.”
Similarly, Fesko claims Particular Baptists fell “short of the historic Reformed tradition,” citing Richard Muller. However, Muller — my former professor — actually affirms the Reformed identity of Particular Baptists. Most egregiously, Fesko ridicules Baptists for throwing “out the water in their effort to toss out the baby.”
Does this sound like someone who will give Baptist contributors a fair hearing?
The proof lies in what happened to my essay. Themelios’ own expert reviewer concluded it was “well researched, covers the material adequately, and is presented in a logical format that makes it easy for the reader to follow.” This positive assessment should have secured publication in any legitimate peer-reviewed journal.
Instead, Fesko rejected their expert’s judgment to suppress a Baptist voice. Meanwhile, he selects essays like Kevin DeYoung’s piece on — predictably — Presbyterian history. The pattern is clear: Baptist scholarship, even when approved by expert reviewers, gets silenced, while Presbyterian perspectives get promoted.
The discrimination becomes even clearer when we consider the broken commitments. On June 3, 2024, Brian Tabb, the general editor, wrote: “I’m pleased to accept your essay … for publication in Themelios.” Fesko echoed this, assuring me the essay “will appear in the … journal.”
These weren’t tentative offers; they were unequivocal commitments that, under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, carry the force of verbal contracts.
Why break such clear promises? Because a Baptist essay challenged paedobaptist assumptions, and that couldn’t be tolerated, regardless of expert approval.
This anti-Baptist discrimination exposes a deeper problem: Themelios‘ claim to be “peer-reviewed” is questionable. True peer review means expert reviewers have the decisive voice in publication decisions, with blind review minimizing editorial bias. But Themelios operates on editorial preference, not expert judgment.
A board member admitted, “Brian Tabb has sometimes published essays which I rated poorly,” while rejecting reviewer-approved essays that editors dislike. This isn’t peer review; it’s editorial gatekeeping designed to maintain theological preferences while masquerading as academic rigor.
“Some might dismiss this as inside-baseball academic politics, but the implications reach far beyond one journal.”
Some might dismiss this as inside-baseball academic politics, but the implications reach far beyond one journal. When prominent Christian institutions like TGC allow theological bias to override academic integrity, they undermine trust in Christian scholarship and poison the well of theological discourse.
When TGC’s flagship journal systematically discriminates against Baptist voices while claiming academic objectivity, it damages both Baptist participation in broader evangelical conversation and the credibility of that conversation itself.
Moreover, if Christian leaders break contracts with contributors, misrepresent their work as “peer-reviewed,” and allow personal theological bias to trump expert judgment, what other compromises are they making? The spiritual wreckage from such institutional dishonesty inevitably flows downstream to the churches.
TGC has positioned itself as a voice for gospel-centered evangelicalism that transcends denominational boundaries. But Themelios‘ recent anti-Baptist bias reveals the hollowness of that claim.
Until TGC addresses this discrimination and implements genuine peer review at Themelios, their claims of theological diversity and academic integrity ring hollow. Baptist voices deserve better.
John B. Carpenter serves as pastor of Covenant Reformed Baptist Church and is author of Seven Pillars of a Biblical Church and the Covenant Caswell Substack.