Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 39:3 (Summer 2025)
Article: Racism And Sexism: The Groans Of A New Creation
Author: Mimi Haddad

PP 39:3 (Summer 2025) p. 3

Racism And Sexism: The Groans Of A New Creation

Mimi Haddad

Mimi Haddad serves as president and CEO of CBE International. She has taught as an adjunct associate professor of historical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Olivet University and has taught for churches, institutes, and organizations worldwide. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Summa Cum Laude). She holds a PhD in historical theology from the University of Durham, England. Mimi received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University in 2013. She was a founding member of the Evangelicals and Women Study Section at the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and Evangelicals for Justice. She continues to serve on the leadership of ETS’s Evangelicals and Women.

A lecture presented at “Time to Wake Up: Racism in the World Church,” a conference hosted by the George W. Truett Theological Seminary, February 2024.

Dear friends and colleagues at Baylor University and Truett Seminary: Thank you for these crucial and distinguished conversations on racism. It is truly an honor and pleasure to learn from you and to contribute some of my own experiences and observations as together we groan in eager expectation as Christ is formed in our lives, churches, and communities.

Lord, please give us guidance, attentiveness, and your Spirit’s power that we might be fully birthed—a new creation in Christ, our hope now and always. Amen.

If you are like me, your fingers tremble each day as you click to read world news, anxious about the atrocities documented since the day before. How many more children, elderly, and defenseless have been maimed, exploited, or killed as we slept comfortably, well-fed and in our warm, safe beds? Why have humanitarian aid, medical attention, protection, and justice been denied to certain groups while their perpetrators are not brought to trial in courts worldwide? Why are we silent as minors are unjustly imprisoned—in violation of international law—for their minor offenses.? Where is the support from those with power and from countries with influence and resources to make a difference? Where is the church—we who claim to have the mind and power of Christ? Do we draw close to victims in prayer, lament, and action on their behalf? These are questions laid at our feet today, as the church in the West.

As the daughter of immigrants from an ancient branch of Christians arising from the mountains between Lebanon and Syria, I often gain wisdom and strength from our history, from our ancient Christian practices, traditions, and teachings. Though these may seem antiquated, foreign, or feeble, do not underestimate the imp...