When “It Worked for Me” Isn't Enough: What a Substantive Critique Can Reveal About a Trusted Resource
If you haven't read my article on The Empowered Wife yet, start there. This article is a follow-up to that critique and explores something I have noticed in the conversations surrounding it. Since publishing my critique of Laura Doyle's teachings, I have repeatedly encountered responses that move surprisingly quickly away from the substance of the criticism. Instead, the critique can be experienced as an attack—on Laura Doyle, her coaches, marriages that have been restored, or even the women who credit these teachings with helping them. That response matters because part of vetting any resource is paying attention to what happens when it is subjected to substantive criticism. When we are deciding whom to trust with something as consequential as our marriages, it isn't enough to ask whether we like the advice or whether other people have compelling stories about it. We should also examine the assumptions behind the teaching, the evidence supporting its claims, its li...
