A sprawling collection of discovery material now made public has unearthed explosive new details and previously unknown facts regarding the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the sexual abuse allegations involving former professor David Sills and his former student, Jennifer Lyell.

The documents, stemming from Sills’ ongoing defamation lawsuit against the SBC and others, expose a staggering chasm between the supportive public statements made by key denominational leaders and the private doubts, skepticism and hostility expressed in internal communications regarding abuse allegations and the survivor community.

Among the thousands of pages of court documents, new details from the deposition of former Lifeway Senior Vice President Eric Geiger provide a harrowing glimpse into the specific nature of the abuse Lyell reported to SBC leadership in 2018 — details that paint a far darker picture than the “morally inappropriate relationship” initially reported to the public by Baptist Press.

According to discovery documents and deposition testimony from Geiger, Lyell allegedly described a theological trap in which she felt compelled to “please the patriarch,” a twisted spiritual justification that allegedly framed years of sexual violence.