The Sacred and the Radical

Sor Juana was a nun and a radical thinker. She used religious language and devotional forms to express justice claims the Church officially opposed. Rather than viewing spirituality as separate from or opposed to radical politics, she showed how sacred tradition could carry liberatory meaning. For intersectional practice, this is crucial because many marginalized communities hold deep spiritual commitments—and systems of oppression often weaponize religion against them while simultaneously depending on these communities' spiritual resilience. The framework acknowledges that secular approaches alone don't address the full humanity of people navigating intersecting oppressions. It validates the radical spiritual work of Black churches, liberation theology movements, Indigenous spirituality, queer faith communities. It asks: How do we honor people's spiritual resources? How do we reclaim sacred traditions from co-optation? How do we think through the relationship between spiritual practice and justice work? Sor Juana demonstrates that this isn't contradiction—it's integration necessary for movements that sustain people through long struggles.