From Barcelona to Mexico City via Edimburgh

Mireia Vidal

I’m Mireia Vidal, and I’m from Barcelona, Spain. In October 2024, I finished my PhD in Christian Origins and the New Testament at the University of Edinburgh. A few months later, I was appointed to my current position as a professor of Biblical Studies (New Testament) at Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City, Mexico).

My personal journey in theology started many years ago in an almost accidental way. During my undergraduate degree in History, I became interested in the topic of women in antiquity, but it was only when I moved from Barcelona to Madrid for a job that had nothing to do with theology that I became fully involved in biblical studies. While searching for a flat to rent, I ended up in a student residence belonging to the Facultad de Teología SEUT. What started as a temporary arrangement became permanent as I enrolled in their study programme and, years later, became a professor at the same institution.

During these years, I became keenly aware of the nature and character of Protestantism in Spain and how its turbulent history has shaped an identity deeply committed to its beliefs, yet entrenched in a survivalist mode that often boxes in those very beliefs. I was particularly troubled by the lack of women with higher theological studies and their minimal to non-existent presence in academic theological centres. This propelled me to pursue my doctoral degree, for which the support from FAP and the Church of Scotland was vital and definite.

My project finds me currently working in a broader Hispanic context from Mexico. It certainly has taken unexpected trails and, more often than not, has pushed me out of my comfort zone! But it also finds me right where I started: working on building a more inclusive, just, and welcoming Church through theological education.