“LIMINAL SPACE” REFERS to that often-disorienting reality of crossing over, when you have left something behind and are not yet fully in something else—the Latin root of the word “liminal” means “threshold.” That between-times spirit imbues everything in this issue of Sojourners : It was conceived and written before the election that affects so much about our life in this nation and world and arrives in your hands, presumably, as the results are becoming known. That time lag forces us to look beyond the daily news cycle—as portentous as it may be—and focus on more timeless matters.
Mercy Amba Oduyoye’s consequential work, going back to the mid-1980s, is rooted in the experiences of African women, but her theological insights are universal. While the demographic heart of world Christianity has shifted southward, much of Christian theology still centers on white, male, European (and American) expositors and experiences. Oduyoye has contributed to and helped lead a much-needed recentering and broadening of theological perspective—and given all of us the opportunity to see God’s liberating work in the world through a glass slightly less darkly.
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