Famous Figures

His consistent practice of eating with tax collectors and sinners, touching lepers, and engaging strangers in personal conversation reflects a Connection orientation in which the relational boundary between the holy and the outcast is explicitly refused.

His poetry of divine love, which uses the language of erotic longing to describe the soul's connection to the divine, reflects a Connection orientation in which the deepest bond transcends both the personal and the theological.

His leadership of the Exodus, which he does not complete himself, and his transmission of law intended to govern the people after his death, reflect a Legacy orientation in which the task is explicitly conceived as preparation for a future one will not inhabit.

Her Catholic Worker Movement, which built communities of voluntary poverty and direct service as an alternative to both capitalism and state socialism, reflects a Community orientation in which collective organised care is a spiritual as well as political practice.

His chairing of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was structured as a communal rather than purely judicial process for confronting apartheid-era crimes, reflects a Community orientation in which healing requires collective witness rather than individual judgment.

His transformation from conservative bishop to vocal advocate for El Salvador's poor communities, providing a communal voice for those whose deaths the state refused to acknowledge, reflects a Community orientation in which the church's function is to gather and protect the community of the vulnerable.