During the middle decades of the 20th century, Dr. Murray Bowen pioneered a new way of thinking about the family. He looked at the world that everybody saw for millennia and discovered a new lens, a new picture of nature and its systemic clues.

Rabbi Edwin Friedman, a disciple, used Bowen Theory to organize his own thinking and experience as a congregational leader and therapist. His thinking and observations led him to focus on the function of leadership particularly during a time of societal regression. A major way Friedman portrayed a system or civilization getting unstuck from a regression was through the spirit of adventure. He often presented Columbus' discovery of a new world followed by the flowering of the renaissance and Reformation as a way to metaphorize the concept of leadership through self differentiation. Many explorers during the time of Columbus exemplified the adventurous spirit that leaders can take to help a system, government, congregation, or family move toward life and maturity.

Beginning with religious leadership Friedman moved to suggest how our current difficulties stem from the way we think, the way we conceptualize our problems to begin with. Through principles of functioning anchored in a natural systems perspective, leaders, in Friedman's view, have the position to be challengers and less anxious presences that promote healing, growth, and a more effective community.

A number of those who sat at the feet of the rabbi in his seminars still meet and have now been joined by others. This band of seekers and learners has come to be called Voyagers. The aim is to continue an effort around learning theory and application. Voyagers gather at least twice a year, generally in the nation's capital where various Bowen and Friedman faculty, along with theologians, meet to exchange research and experience.