Does COVID-19 mark the death of expertise?

My professor once told me that his wife was diagnosed with a rare disease. The first doctor strongly encouraged a very intrusive surgery that could have dangerous consequences. My professor decided to get a second opinion from another doctor who specialized in the same field. His assessment was less dire. He encouraged a less intrusive procedure coupled with medication and nutritional changes. The second expert was right. His wife made a full recovery and today lives a pain-free life.

What we are experiencing in our day is a battle in the arena of expertise. As society begins to re-open, we are now aware that experts promoting an apocalyptic agenda for the country severely overestimated the impact of the virus in our lives. As a result, the economic and psychological damage will be devastating. And, as I wrote elsewhere, the most important and underestimated damage is the spiritual damage on millions of Christians absent from the reality of word and sacrament and real worship.

In a society that makes an icon of individualism, expertise is dead. Long live the self! We are an insubordinate culture. We take the fifth commandment with little seriousness and the authorities in our lives are often treated like options in a buffet line.

But with the politicization of expertise, where does the truth lie? It does not reside in individualism. And it does not reside in one-size fits all authority figures in any field. In virtually every domain, there will be experts who take new findings and revise their own conclusions. But this is a rare thing. The more common occurrence is that experts take the facts and make them fit into their agenda. We can conclude, therefore, that there is idolatry on both sides the spectrum. We worship at the feet of insubordination or at the feet of a expert.

The truth is a person. Truth is Jesus because everything that proceeds from his mouth is from Yahweh. In most cases, our failures stem from basic denials of our Lord’s authority to speak into our lives. But the more complex denials on issues regarding the science of COVID-19 or other spheres stem from another basic factor. Jesus did not function as a lonely Messiah. He surrounded himself with a company of friends.

The lesson is that truth ought to change us as we live together. It is not wrong to change your opinion based on facts. It is wrong to determine that your opinion will never change regardless of facts or alternative expertise. Human nature dictates through this season that if we assumed COVID-19 is too risky and dangerous to the point that any return to normalcy is foolish, then you will find yourself at the feet of one lineage of experts. The same is true if you think this entire thing is just like the ordinary flu. We go too far in one direction without consulting our circle of friends or getting a second opinion.

In the end, our call is to seek wisdom from a localized community while acknowledging that we have presuppositions about the entire scheme before expert voices rise. If our presuppositions are wrong, long live truth. We are all political creatures which means experts are political creatures also. Our call is to return to the relative consensus of our small communities (churches/families). We may be wrong at times, but we will share a mutual respect for particular authorities in our lives without making an idol of our individual knowledge or placing our entire lives at the hands of an expert in a land far away.

I certainly don’t want to see the death of expertise. I want brilliant experts in every field who dedicate thousands of hours to studying one issue with great precision. I want my ears open at the end of the day to their data. But to assume that one expert has all the answers is perhaps where many of us have gone wrong. If anything, I am calling for a return to localized expertise whose knowledge is easily knowable and whose agenda has my holistic well-being in mind. If a doctor stresses that only the worst scenario is the best alternative for my spouse, you better believe I am going to find another trustworthy expert to see if the conclusion of the first expert is truly the only alternative. Give ear to experts, but test the experts. No expert is above reproach.