The thing I'm saying that I'm not sure you've got is that everything depends on what we accept as authority. Who would be the authority that answers your final question? (should there be priests?) You seem to speak as if we somehow had the authority to decide that.Then give me an alternative view and the authority on which it is based.
All other churches may consider wisdom as drawn from individuals; the Orthodox Church holds that no individual can be trusted.Baptists hold no man infallible, as do all Christians [please avoid the issue of the Pope here!
]. All believe in the value of leadership by an individual and the importance of the group. I think you will find Orthodox is not, in fact, unique in this.
Do you really think a university course, run by a human professor, would be your best guide to understanding different religions?No; I have never done such a course, although I have done comparative religion at a Bible College. What I did do is spend time while at university (or in the vacation) doing my own 'course' on reading books and seeking to understand different religions and different styles in Christianity. I was not then a Baptist but decided on it during my time at university. The general trend was in fact to become Church of England. The local church had a very active student ministry that was hugely popular with the campus students; at that time I was CofE.
Finally, you ask which Church Tradition is correct. Well and good. I ask, where was the Church from AD 50 to AD 1500? The only Church that could possibly represent a faith I could accept would have to have existed con-tin-u-ous-ly. Mistakes? Yes. Sin in the Church? Yes. Disappear (or stray) for 1500 (or even 300 or 100) years? No. That leaves only two options - the only Churches that have continuous history prior to AD 1500. One is right. the other is not.The church of England considers that it is con-tin-u-ous-ly linked to the apostles too, from bishop to bishop. However, I think my concern is not the physical church but the trasmission of the faith. Protestants would say they reignited the flame that had gone low in the West.
Here we reach the core of the issue. You lean on the traditional Orthodox teaching and practice. We can agree that ALL churches suffer from sin and mistakes. I would query if the 'priest' concept has been correctly transmitted based on scripture. Hence as I query the 'priest', the issue of gender is a side issue.
I might mention that I have lived in the USA and attended church there. There are some very fine Christians in Baptist churches there but also some very odd ones from my Christian perspective. It may well be that your experience was with the latter.