It was a great honor to present my first academic paper at the ETS conference last week in San Antonio (Nov. 14-16, 2023). ETS is a professional academic society of biblical and theological scholars. Academic papers are submitted throughout the year and the authors of selected papers are invited to attend the conference and read their paper to an audience.

Yesterday, I became aware of an article by Christianity Today which casts ETS in a negative light related to past and present participation of female scholars. I cannot speak to the past; however, since the article includes statements by women who perceive oppression by a white, male patriarchy in the society, permit me to share my experience as a conference speaker and attendee.

On the first morning of the conference, I attended the morning prayer service. It was a reverent time of a cappella worship, liturgical recitation, and a time of open prayer. My 16-year-old son was with me. We stood surrounded on every side by Christian leaders handsomely dressed in professional attire. The atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie was palpable. I recognized leaders from various academic institutions and ministries, and it was a thrill to see authors of books I have been assigned over the years. As the singing began, strong, deep voices rose in unison, and it sounded as if we were standing in the midst of an all-male choir. The worship time was rich and uplifting. During the time of open prayer, several leaders prayed for our churches, our nation, and the world. I saw a few women in the room, but I was not acquainted with them.

I was the first speaker in room 305. When I entered the room, I experienced nothing but smiles and support from ETS staff, the moderator, and my (small) audience. My husband, son, and in-laws were there to support me. I had not expected anyone else to attend since I’m still a student. The moderator,  John A. Adair (Dallas Theological Seminary) was gracious and kind in helping me get set up. I was also delighted to meet Dr. Maria Russell Kenney (Topic: Abortion Prevention and Traditional Sexual Ethics: Just Peacemaking as a Model for Evangelicals), assistant professor of Christian Ethics at Asbury Seminary. She was complimentary and encouraging. I am thankful for her presence and enjoyed visiting with her later that day.

Additionally, I was grateful to my doctoral supervisor, Dr. Brad Green, for honoring me with his presence and surprised and delighted when I spied Dr. Vern Poythress (PhD, Harvard; DTh, Stellenbosch) distinguished professor of New Testament, Biblical Interpretation, and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, sitting in the room. I finished my presentation and Dr. Poythress came up to the podium, greeted me, and commended my work. He could have attended several other talks with speakers of much greater distinction, but he had seen the name “Bahnsen” in my title and was drawn to mine. Dr. Poythress favors presuppositional apologetics, of which Dr. Greg Bahnsen was a proponent in the late 20th century. I have never met a kinder man in my life. He gave me his card and told me to contact him for the names of additional scholars I need to read. This will be immensely helpful as I enter my dissertation writing phrase this spring (Lord willing). I was grateful for Dr. Poythress’ support.

Positive, encouraging, and supportive: That was my first experience presenting a paper at ETS.

Throughout the day, the talks I listened to were excellent. A few of the highlights were a talk by Dr. John Wilsey (Topic: Peace and Freedom: Progressive Christianity, American Exceptionalism, and John Foster Dulles) I am currently taking Western Philosophy at SBTS with Dr. Wilsey, so I already knew his work was top notch; Dr. Kevin DeYoung was entertaining (Topic: John Witherspoon as Satirist). His response to a question concerning contemporary satire by Douglas Wilson was memorable: “Too much and against the wrong people.” (I agree) I have already posted about the excellent presentation by Dr. E. Calvin Beisner (Topic: Just Justice, Generous Grace: Distinguishing Two Biblical Principles for Gospel and Government) which helped me think through some of the current issues related to biblical justice v. social justice. He works with the Cornwall Alliance which offers excellent resources on biblical dominion, justice, and stewardship. Timothy Paul Jones’ (Topic: Doing Civic Good Without Bowing to Civic Gods: Second-Century Apologetics as Cultural Catechesis) was compelling and I learned a presentation tip from him, as well. He had a QR code on his handout that enabled the audience to access resources used in his research.

During the lunch break, we perused the exhibition hall. Ratio Christi had a great booth set up featuring their new series of apologetic resources. If you like art and apologetics, check out my book The Apologetics of Art.

The hardest part was deciding which talks to attend because there are parallel sessions. At any given time, there are multiple presentations going on at the same time. I decided to attend talks based on personal interest, not the gender of the speaker, and I find it odd that the article in CT states there were seventy-five female speakers at the conference. It never occurred to me to look around and count the women present, nor to count the number of female names in the conference schedule. It is my assumption that every speaker, regardless of gender, earned their place based on the merit of their academic work. Unfortunately, articles like the one in CT throw the assumption into question. Was my paper selected with an unwritten quota in mind? Was my participation merely a way to boost the number of female speakers? Unfortunately, in its effort to support women the CT article undermined their intelligence and their efforts.

I looked into the study conducted by the CBE (Christians for Biblical Equality) and cited in the CT article as support for the claim that many women find ETS hostile and unwelcoming. In the same study they also reported, “Women experienced ETS in multiple different ways. Most experienced the ETS annual meeting as negative, some as a mixture of good and bad, and a few as wholly positive.” The study goes on to state that two of the three women who viewed it as wholly positive were connected to the Southern Baptist Convention.

From this, I surmise the issue of female scholars at ETS is, at the root, an issue of theology. Conservative, complementarian women recounted positive experiences at ETS in the past. I had an overwhelmingly positive experience last week. Why? Because my theology explains the male dominance of the field, accepts it, and supports it. Egalitarians, on the other hand, depart from the teaching of Scripture on the proper roles for men and women, and thus, see the disparity as an injustice. Their theology perpetuates continual dissatisfaction. On CBE’s website it states: “CBE engages the original context and language of Scripture to show how the Bible teaches that women and men are equally created in God’s image for shared governance in all spheres.” But that is not what conservative, complementarian women believe. Conservative, complementarian women do not believe women should share governance in all spheres. As a conservative, complementarian woman, I do not believe such a goal is biblical. The CT article assumes egalitarianism and relegates women (like me) to the very margins they claim to oppose.

Additionally, conservative theology leads to merit-based academics, while liberal theology pushes so-called victimized classes forward based on their perceived status as an oppressed group. Their theology lines up with the popular critical theories. These theories are based on many of the same assumptions as the ideologies associated with the pride flag and cannot logically be separated from them.

The rising controversy over women at ETS is a battle of disparate theologies and there can be no reconciliation between them. I pray the Lord will guide the leadership of ETS and I genuinely hope to attend again next year–Because of my scholarship, of course–not my skirt.