This discussion in my opinion has caused more arguments then edify The reader in my experience with it. I would advise everyone who joins in this discussion to pray before you join in and ask God by his Holy Spirit to lead and teach us the truth of this subject.
Albert, appeals to authority in Theology are a quagmire arena with some areas being quicksand and others solid ground. My Th.D dissertation hit upon some of this phenomenon in my critiques of some scholastic works by others who had many more letters attached to their names than I could ever dream of achieving in this life...mainly due to my dissatisfaction with modern scholarship that has created, for example, many of the modern translations (so called). Sitting in theological symposiums was, at times, tedious and agonizing as fellow wind-bags such as myself droned on about what we think are our findings. We like to think that our research was exhaustive enough to have plumbed the full depths of data available in libraries, ancient repositories and excavations.
Some of us, however, have decided to go before the One who IS in the know; who inspired it to be written that His Thoughts and Ways are above ours as the heavens are above the earth. Mavericks such as myself dare to ask for His Thoughts and His Ways, and you know what...He gives to those who ask; in various measures of course. My godfather had two doctorals, which prompted me to get at least one, and I remain unimpressed with it all.
That's all to say that, just like those without letters attached to their names, we in our arena also gravitate toward those who wrote and/or said things that appeal to our personal tastes, which is to say that we too take a shine to those who happen to align with what we think is logical and coherently consistent with what we want to believe...tendency-wise, that is. Critical thinking is a minefield at times, for we sometimes don't apply it enough or we apply it too much. The Lord has driven me more toward Himself for that exercise than to books and lectures. In that relationship, we then inevitably learn how ignorant mankind really is in this fallen world of ours when sourcing our knowledge from scholarship before ever seeking His guidance for where to find the truth...
BTW