APOLOGETICS CONFERENCE FOR
WOMEN 2022
KEY TOPICS / THEMES:
• Nel Brace – What is Truth / What is Love?
• Simon Brace – Understanding Ideas Shaping Your Society
• Prof. Reitze Rodseth – Understanding Gender Fluidity
• Dr. Louise Mabille – Feminism and the Christian Woman
• Prof. Nicola De Jager – Understanding Government
Speakers
SIMON BRACE
Simon Brace is the National Director of Ratio Christi South Africa and serves as the Chapter Director at the North-West University in Potchefstroom.
Born in Zimbabwe, Simon moved to South Africa, where he completed his matric and gained a diploma in Land Surveying from the Durban University of Technology. Simon also holds a BA in Theology and MA in
Apologetics and Philosophy from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Simon was also involved with the founding and establishment of Ratio Christi while working at Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) and has served as the President and Chairman of the Board of Ratio Christi. He is currently a Ratio Christi Board member.
PROF. REITZE RODSETH
Prof. Reitze Rodseth is an anesthesiologist and critical care specialist working in private practice in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
He is a clinician-researcher with a wide range of interests. His research has focused on identifying patients at high risk of having heart attacks after surgery. This work led to a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has a keen interest in studying how we do medical research and the quality of research that it produces. He obtained a master’s in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University in Canada and has presented on ethics and fraud in clinical research. He has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers. He received the UKZN Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award in 2016 and held a South African National Research Foundation Rating from 2015 to 2019. Reitze became a Christian through God’s grace and the ministry of apologetics. The truth of Jesus’ claims and the proof of the resurrection dismantled the barriers he used to hold God at a distance. Soon after his conversion Reitze started studying Christian apologetics and began teaching on abortion, euthanasia, and transgenderism. He is currently busy with a master’s in Christian Apologetics and Philosophy at the Southern Evangelical Seminary in the USA. He is married to Miranda and his two sons – Joshua and Nathan
Nel Brace
Nel Brace grew up and matriculated in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. After completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch, she taught in London for six years.
She completed a Master’s degree at Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) in the USA and now serves on the national staff of Ratio Christi South Africa. Through this work she strives to be a witness to those who do not know Christ and to be part of the resurgence of Christian thinking on university campuses and in the church at large. She is married to Simon Brace and they have 5 children – Eva, Olivia, Cai, Jannes and Ruben.
Dr. Louise Mabille
Louise Mabille teaches Economics and Politics at the Afrikaanse Protestant Academy (APA).
She is the author of two books on Nietzsche, the recipient of a Huygens Fellowship, an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship and has recently edited a book (with Henk Stoker) entitled The Morality Wars, featuring William Lane Craig, John Lennox, Paul Copan, Sam Harris, Steven Weinberg, and many others. She has a PhD in Philosophy and one in English. She is committed to finding Truth, and ultimately believes that it can only be found in Jesus Christ.
Feminism and the Christian Woman: How should Christians engage the contemporary feminist movement?
Like virtually everything in our fallen world, the feminist movement has a long and complex history. At one stage, it was committed to finding genuine justice – a commitment that is shared and should be shared by all Christians. However, today’s feminist movement is decidedly different from its earlier versions: even Simone de Beauvoir would struggle to recognize shared ideas among today’s social justice warriors. This makes contemporary feminism a particular challenge for Christians, especially Christian women. In the following talk, we will examine the history and meaning of feminism, look at its radical manifestations, explore Biblical notions of justice and provide an alternative to radical feminism based on Biblical principles.
Prof. Nicola de Jager
Nicola de Jager is married to Phillip, and they have two teenage boys, David and Nathan.
She holds a PhD in Political Science and is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University. She is a nationally rated researcher (NRF), former fellow of the African Oxford Initiative (AfOx) at Oxford University, and editor of the book South African Politics (2021), with peer-reviewed publications on the topics of South African politics, religion and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, and comparative politics. Over the years she has taught on Christians and Politics at the School of the Nations. To help her be a nicer-person she regularly trail runs with her dog.
PROF. PHILLIP DE JAGER
Phillip de Jager (PhD, CA(SA)) is married to Nicola with two teenage sons, David and Nathan. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance and Tax at the University of Cape Town.
He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher with research interests in bank capital, corporate finance and research about research. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Meditari Accountancy Research Journal and the South African Journal of Accountancy Research. Recent industry work was for the Competition Commission of South Africa on excessive pricing conduct.
DANIËL MARITZ
Daniël studied theology at the North West University in Potchefstroom. In 2015 he started his Masters degree on the New Age movement’s infiltration of the church and consequently enrolled for a Ph.D. in theology which he completed in 2020.
He is a pastor at the Reformed Church Brooklyn in Pretoria and on the leadership of a church-plant group called Dialogue. He established the Ratio Christi chapter at the University of Pretoria in 2018. He is married to Ansie who is a lecturer in linguistics.
JOHN GROBLER
The Lord saved John in September 1985. He did not grow up in an institutional church and vocational Christian ministry was a foreign concept. In 1989 he resigned a job in a bank and joined a mission organization.
Through doing evangelism on the streets and in night clubs, being involved in a ministry of reconciliation to the poor, through missionary training, international travel and teaching, and leading a Bible College in a local church, he is now expanding what he has learned to the Apologetics SA online platform to encourage believers to keep engaging the world with the truth of the gospel.
Living through apartheid, being confronted with questions from interactions in Johannesburg’s inner city and the streets of Cape Town, and meeting Christians on different continents led to John’s quest to search for the truth of the gospel as opposed to cultural expressions of the truth. Through many years he discovered that the human experience of pain and search for meaning is the same the world over. As a Christian his goal is to understand how people are struggling in order to guide them to the relief that Jesus Christ offers.
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