While women have been marginalized in societies, by being in mission women have endeavored to remove the marginality of those they serve. Being at once objects and subjects of mission is a peculiar predicament of women in mission. This article examines how women engaged in mission negotiate with the center, namely, patriarchy. They submit to it, circumvent it, challenge it, and transform it. This article seeks to survey women's margin-center relations from the early Roman period to the present, and to explore briefly how the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church has been instrumental in leading the total denomination in the area of racial justice: an instance of margin transforming the center.
Transnational religious law – Exemplified by the United Methodist Church