Lingo and Legacy1
A Glossary of Exodus New Life Agenda Terms with History and Commentary
Developed as part of the EXODUS Study Paper Project, Woodbourne C.F. 2010 Revised 9/16/25
Fanita English, an expert in Transactional Analysis, once described Exodus as being, “valid and consistent within its own language.” Change in our lives generally requires a new way of thinking and often that is accompanied by new language. The Exodus Model has many terms that have special meanings which expand their simple definition. This glossary provides an understanding of Exodus fundamentals and concepts by explaining our own language.2
Agenda Each meeting has a list of items to be covered, this is the agenda. Normally, a meeting will include: The Opening Rite, Reports (current news or communications are included here), Opening Discussion or Deep Talk (a brief discussion to start the meeting), Contract or Life-Line review (time to help and get help, report on goals met, or share progress, etc.), Study Paper, Practical Project (group project), Closing Rite. The agenda is a balance between our thinking and our doing. The thinking is the theoretical and informs our action. Doing is the practical aspect(s) of our group agenda and individual contracts. Thinking and doing are sometimes referred to as the theoretical task and the practical task. (see Theoretical Task and Practical Task.)
Approved We approve the past because we have decided to use it as our wisdom. It is our history. By approving we take ownership of the past and claim it as ours with all the good and bad; from there we move forward.
AVP The Alternatives to Violence Program grew from discussions in The Think Tank which was, in turn, instrumental in launching the program. AVP got its start in the early 1970s when the prison group invited Quakers to Green Haven C.F. to discuss ways to teach younger inmates about resolving conflicts without violence. AVP became, and remains, a vital program organized and managed by Quakers (aka. Religious Society of Friends).
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Cadre The first Exodus groups are out of the Think Tank and were called The Cadre. A Cadre is a disciplined group with a single focus, to identify a problem(s), try to understand it, and then create solutions. The founders were in The Cadre. (see Founders)
Captivity Confinement, oppression, prison, bondage; where the Exodus personal journey begins and metaphorically reminds us of how/where the Biblical Exodus journey begins. Captivity may also include struggles of the mind, addiction, or difficult situations.
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Community Involvement A Contract category meant to help the Exodus member reconnect with the community in which he lives, lived, or hopes to go to. Confidentiality We cannot provide the kind of confidentiality enjoyed by Lawyer/Doctor relationships. We depend on honor, maturity, and mutual respect to maintain the privacy of our discussions.
Consequence “The result or effect of some previous occurrence [behavior or action], an unpleasant result.” Anticipating consequence is a feature of Critical Thinking.
Contract The Exodus New Life Agenda Contracts are the core of the program and have existed in some form from the origins of Exodus. We establish goals in the Contract which, when worked for and met, will lead us to a life-giving, productive, and hopeful future. We also use it to identify our life-giving desires for our future, our current Practical Project, and to state our Primary Issue. The Contract is a living document and is subject to change with our success and development.
Crime This brings one to prison, but a crime can be an isolated act. One may depend on crime without it becoming ingrained into one’s personality. Not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.
Criminal Lifestyle A way of life that depends on crime for money, status, power, personality, self-image, etc. A habitual criminal: it’s not what they do anymore, it’s who they are.
Critical Thinking Freedom from the past and the failed ways of doing things requires honest appraisal. Any appraisal of our behavior, performance, patterns, and life-style demands a courageous examination of all influences. Then changes can come based on evidence and truth. “Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates
evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions.”
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Decorum Our sense of order in meetings is self-regulated, we don’t raise hands, but speak to the topic as inspired, avoiding side conversations while others are on topic. The greatest benefit is gleaned when attendance is regular and for the entire time allowed.
Deep Talk This is usually a phrase, aphorism, or proverb which starts the meeting. Deep Talks often inspire discussions that touch on the deep struggles we explore. Sources of Deep Talks can be literature, various belief systems, science, the arts/music, etc. (see Theoretical Task)
Defining Moment Members have often identified an event or a realization in their livesthat caused them to take stock of their situation and begin to change. (see Life-Line)
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Education “…the process of acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and preparing oneself for mature life.” This Contract area may be used to set goals of formal education (GED-General Education Diploma, College, ASL-American Sign Language, etc.) or for less formal forms of self-study, reading, or classes for knowledge in a particular field or an area of personal interest (real estate, music, arts, writing, etc.). EDOVO has as many learning opportunities as well and is available through the prison tablet programs.
Edwin Mark Muller (see Rev)
Exodus Group(s) meet regularly (usually weekly) and keep the principles, process and philosophy of Exodus alive for the benefit of all members, new and veteran. Exodus New Life Agenda is currently available through an email program for incarcerated individuals and others.
Exodus New Life Agenda is the most current titling of Exodus, used to distinguish Exodus from other programs, esp. Exodus Transitional Community and Exodus International. It also refers to The New Life Agenda: Creating an Exodus Contract, a workbook developed as a Group Practical Project at Woodbourne C.F. in 2018. The workbook contains inquiries and aids for developing one’s first Exodus Contract.
Exodus Transitional Community (ETC) was founded by Julio Medina. Rev. Dr. Lonnie McLeod, Jr., an Exodus member, was the “mediator” between Rev. Muller and Julio Medina, in that Julio was not an Exodus member, enabling Julio to use the model of Exodus to start ETC. Dr. McLeod later became the pastor of The Church of the Living Hope in East Harlem, where ETC
adopted some of the principals of Exodus in its programming. ETC is not directly affiliated with Exodus New Life Agenda.
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Facilitator He/she presents an agenda for each meeting, usually decides on the opening discussion and study paper, guides discussion of all topics, instructs where necessary, and is the constant, or anchor, of the group.
Family/Extended Family Immediate biological families and their relatives are very important, but members have also developed close “familial” ties with others when they don’t have families or need close, life-giving people in their lives.
Family Ties This area of the Contract allows the member to set goals to maintain close family relationships, improve them, or attempt to repair estrangements, etc. This Contract area can also be used to identify and enhance relationships with others who are not blood relations but supplant toxic or non-existent relationships with biological relatives.
Founders In the later 1960’s Rev. Edwin Muller began discussions with some prisoners at Green Haven; primarily William Stephenson “Bama” Battle, Larry “Lukman” White, Charlie Acker, and Napolean Harris. By 1967 these men had formed the Think Tank. The founders and many others accepted the task of coming to terms with their lot. From 1967 to 1969 they began to build models
to deal with the problems they had identified. They became more task oriented and found they had some influence over prison conditions and reformed as The Cadre. By 1970 they had secured a funding partnership between the government and The South Forty Corporation (William H.
Vanderbilt, Bill Bradley, J. Edward Meyer, and Helen Vanderbilt were members of The South Forty Corporation Board, later joined by Bill Weber). They brought higher education to New York State prisons for the first time, expanded The Cadre into other facilities (each group having its own
mission), and facilitated and managed programs (inside and outside) to assist in the re-entry of prisoners back into society. In 1976 the burden of managing so many programs became too great and so the mission of the group simplified to identifying problems, developing ideas that would create relief from these problems, and then suggesting programs that other groups could
implement. However, the group had already begun to evolve. In 1975 Rev. Muller and Bama Battle were walking and talking and realized that the Biblical story of bondage, The Exodus, and the journey to the Promised Land, was a fitting theological foundation and metaphor for what had already been established, therefore strengthening its roots. From that point The Cadre changed to The Exodus Cadre, later becoming Exodus (sometimes known as Exodus Study Group or Exodus, Lifers in Transition.) Exodus groups and meetings were, and are, workshops in creating an “intentional human being” or “the new man” (or woman). Rev. Muller was and remains the taproot
of the Exodus family tree while the Rites and format originated by the founders and The Cadre remain essentially unchanged.
Future “Something that will exist or happen in time to come: The future is rooted in the past.” The goals in the Contract are foundational to our future.
Future Events This part of the Contract identifies our hope in real terms. A future event is something specific we begin to work for and realize by our actions now; a milestone that one imagines and plans for. (see Three future events…)
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Goal “The aim or object towards which an endeavor is directed.” Written goals make the future more real. To achieve goals (long term and short term) logical methods and critical thinking are applied. (see S.M.A.R.T.)
Gatekeeper “A guardian; monitor…” Historically, an individual member/inmate leader has decided who is ready to join an Exodus Group. Recently, small groups of elders have determined a method of selection. The facilitators of Exodus inside have not generally made these choices, but may exercise a veto to block entry due to prior knowledge or observed behavior.
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Helper A person who can “cause improvement in a situation, person” or thing. Exodus promotes development of helpers.
Hope “A person, thing, [or situation] in which expectations are centered…to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence…to believe, desire, or trust.” Hope is not wishing; hope is active, wishing is passive.
Human/Humanity In Exodus these terms are best characterized in a definition for “humane: characterized by kindness, mercy, sympathy, etc.; civilizing, liberal.”
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Imaginal Education The primary goal of Imaginal Education is to create a new human being, an intentional human being. The concept was developed in the early 1960’s by the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago as a community reformulation concept concerned with negative self-image and a process of social change. Many organizations and institutes have embraced and expanded on these earlier principles. Imagination is a key to engaging the world with openness and passion. Without it, we have no empathy, no ability to look beyond the immediacy of our experience, no tools with which to analyze what we are told, taught, and shown. Imagination is crucial to making
meaning and is a most powerful agent of change; if we cannot imagine other possibilities in either our own lives or in the communities around us, we cannot move from our current circumstances. Imaginal Education helps us to understand that an incarcerated person becomes a prisoner not only of the prison but of their own self-understanding as well. The “revolving door man” is an example of the person who believes, at an unconscious level, that he will always return to prison. In Ronnie Seagren’s article, Theory of Imaginal Education, he highlights these basics; “The imaginal approach rests on Kenneth Boulding’s understanding of images. 1) Everyone operates out of images; 2) Images govern behavior; 3) Images are created by messages that can be designed and communicated; 4) Images can change; and 5) Changed images lead to changed behavior.”
Intentional Human Being This is a person who thinks and plans, takes reward and consequence into account when making a decision, and who knows that acting from impulse or habit can be non-productive or worse.
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Life-Giver or Life-Giving Many members of Exodus have been convicted of homicide. Therefore, this term can take on a unique depth of meaning. At the same time Life-Givers have embraced their humanity and the humanity of others. Their future does not include crime or a criminal lifestyle. Their acts and deeds are oriented toward the evolution of human kind and the
support and encouragement of others. (see True Self)
Life-Line A graphic illustration of one’s past, present and future that is helpful in self examination. Charting the highs and lows of one’s journey gives meaning and suitable weight to events in the context of an entire life. A Defining Moment would be charted here, along with other meaningful events. Preparing a Life-Line straddles the Practical and Theoretical Tasks because the Life-Line charts events from birth to death, therefore visualizing history, present circumstances, and future expectations.
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Meeting The regular (weekly) assembly of Exodus participants. Members learn from others and support the personal journeys of the brotherhood/sisterhood/community with encouragement, comment, and helpful criticism. (Note: in 2020 Exodus meetings inside prisons were suspended, simultaneously the tablet/email program was started and is available through JPay/Securus and regular Email to anyone who is referred or requests participation.)
Member/Fraternity/Brotherhood/Sisterhood This is how we think of ourselves as participants in Exodus New Life Agenda.
Mentor An individual with particular knowledge or expertise who can assist and support the personal journey and growth of another; “a trusted advisor or guide.”
Method The pre-determined steps toward a Contract goal; “a way of proceeding or doing something, especially a systematic or regular one.”
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New Man Fundamental to Exodus is the concept of “the new man,” based largely on the work of Frantz Fanon. Prison is oppression and, in a sense, colonization, which creates a sense of inferiority and dehumanization in the colonized, leading to psychological trauma. “The new man” is a person
freed from the psychological and social traumas of colonization (prison). He represents a radical transformation, not just in terms of political liberation, but also in terms of the individual’s psyche and sense of self. The “new man” represents a rejection of colonization, racism, and exploitation
and the creation of a new way of thinking and being. The “new man” represents a potential, a promise of a transformed human being that can emerge through the struggles. Rev. Muller wrote: “The New Man’s power is founded on the belief that he is a symbolic man. And when he walks
through the corridors of his former life, he becomes the power of possibility to all who still live there. Symbols are foundational to significant change for the man in prison.”
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Past We approve our past, our history, our previous life and life-style, as the stepping stones to our future, humanity, and hope.
Personal Journey We recognize that each of us is on our own path. We seek to support and encourage each other to keep the journey humane and life-giving for ourselves and others.
Physical Fitness, Health This area of the Contract provides an avenue to increase our awareness that we can surely influence our own well-being, prevent disease, adopt better habits, reject poor habits and track our progress.
Political Conscience We are connected to a larger society and the realities of the world. Preparation for release and advocacy while incarcerated require an awareness of government and other influences on society and our relation to them.
Practical Project – Group/Individual A way to put the theory and thought generated by Exodus into some tangible form and/or to simply find a special or regular task which is life-giving and keeps us in touch with others. (see Problem Grid)
Practical Task Included in the Practical Task are the Individual Contract and Group Practical Projects. These activities are the opportunity to convert our hopes and goals into reality. “Goals are dreams with an action plan.” (GWB) (see Life-Line)
Present Our current existence and consciousness. We live, plan, think, remember, imagine, and feel things in the now.
Primary Issue There are various ways of describing this, but substantially, as Bama Battle put it, “It is that thing that if you do not deal with it will bring you back to prison.” It has also been described as: for what it is you are compensating. Discovering and addressing one’s Primary Issue is essential to change and recovery. The Primary Issue interferes with the emergence of the New Man or the True Self. (see True Self and New Man)
Prison and Prisoners Course For over 25 years in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s Professor Paul Conway conceived and taught a one semester course titled Prison and Prisoners at SUNY Oneonta. He partnered with Rev Muller to bring his students to visit and participate in Exodus meetings twice in each semester. The course was meant to enlighten students as to the conditions, personalities, and life-giving characteristics of Exodus members. These meetings were dynamic, affirming experiences for both the students and the Exodus members. Vassar and some other colleges had similar visits, but none had the track record of SUNY Oneonta.
Problem Grid is the traditional method of identifying what will become the group’s Practical Project. As Rev. Edwin Muller explains in The Exodus Concept, “The Problem Grid is the hard work of the Exodus Group. It involves identifying the problems of people in the world, nation, city, and prison as viewed by the person in prison. It is also concerned with the economic, political, and cultural aspects of life at every level. Because we live in a global community, sometimes the problems of the world directly affect the person in prison…In the early period of the Exodus Cadre, two full years were spent developing a Problem Grid…[of] 1,200 problems…Since that time grids
have been more modest…[the group Practical Projects] move toward understanding the key problems…Develop models or solutions for key problems [and a] time line for implementation…[and finding] resources and personnel…The end result of the Practical Task/Project should be an enlightened and lucid inmate – one who has knowledge and a new level
of understanding and one who has helped to develop some new avenues and structures…” Promised Land lies beyond the Wilderness. It is the rewarding and hoped for life that follows captivity, struggle, overcoming the obstacles in the Wilderness, and development of the new man/woman and the intentional human being. It is the future you create. “Your contract is your
Promised Land, the Future is the goals in your Exodus Contract, Contract goals should pull you through the Wilderness.” -Rev. Edwin Muller.
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Reward The satisfying result of life-giving action.
Rev Rev Edwin Mark Muller (1936-2024), Founder of Exodus. Rev was a United Methodist Chaplain and provided spiritual and educational care for the incarcerated in New York from 1967 until his retirement in 2017. However, he continued to lead Exodus meetings at Eastern NY C.F. and Fishkill C.F. until 2020.
Rites-Opening and Closing The Rites describe the essence of our existence, the necessity to develop change, our desire for a different worldly and spiritual home, and the need for community. Repeating the Rites often leads to new insights as to their individual meanings and how to apply that meaning to our inner life and daily activities.
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Sacrifice Generally we are referring to those behaviors, ideas, images, practices or people we must give up, relinquish, or forfeit in order to make room for the “new man” or to achieve a goal.
S.M.A.R.T. This acronym helps to guide goal-setting and project-making. The letters represent Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Framed. South Forty Corporation The non-profit organization that once provided services in the 1960’s and 1970’s to the Cadre and later Exodus, helped develop the first higher education programs, and managed programs to house and support persons released from prison. The South Forty
Corporation is no longer associated with Exodus.
Spiritual Growth This Contract area can lead to examination or discovery of our belief systems, religious or otherwise. Goals regarding those experiences or rituals that will help us to have a rewarding inner life are essential to our long-term success and our metaphysical connection to others.
Struggle “A war, fight, conflict, or contest of any kind…a task or goal requiring much effort to accomplish or achieve.”
Study Paper An essential part of Exodus New Life Agenda. The Study Paper (see Theoretical Task) provides examples of struggle, overcoming adversity, developing knowledge, healing, restoring respect, etc. through the stories, teachings, examples, and experiences of others. Study papers may address the prison experience, criminal thinking or attitudes, coping mechanisms,
survival in free society, the influence of those who have created success after prison, ways to strengthen spiritual foundations and resolve, or life through empowerment, etc. Typically the Study Paper is brief, a page or sometimes two; they are often non-fiction and biographical but may also be drawn from literature, drama, art, music, poetry, etc.
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Theoretical Task The Deep Talk and the Study Paper are the main aspects of the Theoretical Task. Here we spend time in serious discussion, study, or thought to evaluate our past, present, and future as individuals or as a community.
Think Tank a support group for people serving long-term sentences, under the guidance of prison chaplain Rev. Ed Muller. The Think Tank was eventually named The Cadre and grew to become Exodus. (see Founders)
Three future events that will improve the quality of my life This part of the Contract is meant to engage the imagination in what is not only hoped for, but what can be! These events should be included in the Life-Line as well. The statements are not generalized, but very specific, and meant to draw us into a life-giving future.
True Self The wholesome and dynamic personality that lies within; buried under crime, obsession, addiction, immaturity, personality defect, etc. True Self is life-giving, loving, capable, positive, and unique, the essence of a person’s being. (see Life-Giver)
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Vocation,
Work, Money Management This Contract area can be used to plan for getting or increasing skills for potential employment or to develop contacts with potential employers. Bookkeeping, saving money, learning about banking and investing, understanding insurance and other types of agreements may be developed here.
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Wilderness Upon release we will enter the Wilderness. It is foolish to think that release is the ultimate desire when the world we will enter will be altered, strange, and challenging. Our preparations in Exodus will hopefully make the Wilderness a manageable challenge, a growth experience, and a boon to ultimate success.
1 Lingo and Legacy was composed and compiled by Gordon W. Brown from a variety of sources including The Exodus Concept by Rev. Edwin Muller, Exodus Study Papers, general reference sources including dictionaries, thesaurus, discussions with members of the Exodus Study Paper Project, and personal experience as an Exodus Facilitator since 1997. Rev. Edwin M Muller was an invaluable primary resource providing many essays, papers, and oral history. Also, he commented on and corrected early drafts of this paper.
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2 “Quoted” definitions are from www.dictionary.com unless otherwise noted in the text.