In ancient times the symbolic meaning of names was an assumed part of their overall significance: a name was far more than simply an identifier, it was a way of truly and essentially knowing the person or thing named. Choosing a name for a child was not taken lightly, as that name would necessarily prove to be a source of strength or weakness for that individual throughout his or her life... More recently, the belief in a deep existential connection among all things allows for the possibility that our name is fundamentally correct for us.
I see in [these] folks the human capacity for change, for redemption, for forgiveness. I believe that every one of us, made in God's image as we are, has that capacity. Our challenge is to learn to call it forth in each person. Our hope is that we will succeed.
~ Shelley Douglass in Sojourners Magazine, Dec 2013
