A Response from Susan Wise Bauer

I have seen a response from Susan Wise Bauer to my ref 21 post of a few days ago, in which I responded to her Books & Culture article that complained about the “slippery slope” argument I and others had made about evangelical feminism. Bauer’s response mainly expressed anger and dismay towards my tone and my form of argument. In sum, she states, “Mr. Phillips chooses his words so that I appear guilty of hypocrisy, disregard for the truth, and apostasy.”

I take this as a serious matter. I apologize for the personal offense that Bauer has taken, which was not at all my intention. Moreover, I did not mean to accuse her of “hypocrisy, disregard for the truth” or “apostasy.” Such accusations never crossed my mind. Rather, I was subjecting her published remarks to sharp critique. I did so not out of any intent to harm her as a person, but because of the importance of the subject matter and the influence she is afforded by virtue of writing in such a prestigious publication. Serious, critical engagement is often taken as a sign of respect; I am sorry that it was taken otherwise on this occasion and accept the part of my responsibility in it.