David Falk, Misogynist Extraordinaire (Updated)

Some of you may be familiar with David Falk, an Egyptologist who dabbles in biblical studies from time to time, often poorly. The most popular post here on this blog in 2022 was a piece by Kipp Davis (PhD, University of Manchester), a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, entitled “‘Stay in Your Lane’ – Why David A. Falk Should Refrain from Impersonating a Biblical Scholar.” There Davis shows the myriad ways in which Falk misreads and misunderstands scholarship and should stick to Egyptology.

But Falk isn’t only an Egyptologist who shouldn’t dabble in biblical studies. He’s also a misogynistic asshole who shouldn’t dabble in biblical studies. Dan McClellan highlighted this in a recent video on his YouTube channel entitled “Responding to David Falk’s Misogyny.” Falk responds to an audience question about Francesca Stavrakopoulou, a brilliant and accomplished biblical scholar whose most recent book is God: An Anatomy (Penguin Random House, 2021). As McClellan shows, Falk not only doesn’t understand some of Stavrakopoulou’s positions, but he also doesn’t realize that they fall into the consensus of biblical scholarship. Falk, in classic apologist fashion, attacks a position he doesn’t really understand. And then things take a turn.

Falk focuses his attention not on Stavrakopoulou’s scholarship but upon her appearance, claiming that she’s only appealing because she’s attractive and people who subscribe to her views and work are “doing theology by cup size.” McClellan, with a calmness and scholarly attitude, lets Falk have it. I won’t go over it but instead strongly encourage you to watch the video below. It’s unreal.

But wait, there’s more! After you watch the video, check out this thread on Reddit by Chrissy Hansen on Falk’s CV. Falk’s monograph Ancient Egypt and the Origins of Gnosticism was published by a known predatory publisher. Lambert Academic Publishing states right on their website that they are averse to the peer-review process because it is “abused as mechanisms of censorship.” That seems…bad. But read Hansen’s post for more. UPDATE: Hansen alerted me this morning that Reddit took down her post. However, she put it in a word document that you can download below.

UPDATE: For whatever reason, I forgot to mention that Falk offered something that he apparently believes is an apology. McClellan has the screenshots in a tweet. It’s unsurprising but still somewhat alarming.

UPDATE: Mark Edward left a comment with a link to the Vancouver School of Theology website’s page for Dr. Falk. It now comes up as “Page not found.”

UPDATE: Over on their Facebook page, the Vancouver School of Theology issued a statement concerning Dr. Falk.

Update (1/26/23): Over the past couple of days, Falk has continued to defend his misogyny. Here he is in a comment from YouTube (HT: @GonnaFyouUp97).

Absolutely unhinged. His producer, as it turns out, is his wife Kiara Falk who was also associated with the Vancouver School of Theology. This is what she had to say about the affair over on Discord (HT: @GonnaFyouUp97).

VST has deleted the webpage associated with Kiara Falk. It now says “page not found” – https://vst.edu/people/kiara-falk/.

Falk also went on Discord and responded to a letter that had been sent to VST from various scholars and researchers that had condemned his rhetoric. It is a sight to behold! (HT: @GonnaFyouUp97)

This is how you talk when you’ve been backed into a corner but one fess up to your own horribleness. But that’s David Falk for you!