Spirituality and Social Responsibility

Women in the United Methodist tradition have long expressed their commitment to Christ and to their sisters and brothers. Here is a collection of essays and primary source documents that tells the stories of pioneering ministries of United Methodist women--of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds--from the eighteenth century. Each essay traces the individual faith journeys and self-understanding of its subject. The stories also reveal the sexism and racism that confronted each woman overtly or covertly in church and society, as well as their own attitudes toward it.

A selection of primary source documents by the subject follows each essay; these personal statements express vividly each woman's vision of vocation. In this way, the volume provides a lens for interpreting and analyzing the subjects' lives through their own words and enables women and men of today to identify with the commitment, experiences, and struggles of these pioneers and apply them to their own faith journeys. Thus, through the witness of these women, Spirituality and Social Responsibility calls the church to accountability and discipleship, both pastorally and prophetically.