Bruce Chatwin

This article is an attempt to answer the question Bruce Chatwin posed in the title of the last book published during his life: What Am I Doing Here. A critical focus on Chatwin’s masterwork, The Songlines, and its exploration of nomadism paired with wandering, leads to an exploration of his lifelong quest for spiritual renewal and ascension. Part literary criticism, part personal essay, the article makes personal connections with Chatwin’s life and work. Included here are several book lists, featuring an extensive list of books that Chatwin read and references in his own writing, assembled possibly for the first time.

Świat uczonych w dziele Jana Amosa Komeńskiego: "Labirynt świata i raj serca" i płynące z niego przesłanie do współczesnego świata nauki i edukacji

This paper is part of the trend of reading the relevance of the works by John Amos Comenius for modern times. The author examines Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart, a unique literary work by the Czech scholar. The article aims to present the image of the world of scholars presented in the mentioned work and expose its message for the contemporary academic world. Although Comenius devoted many of his works to the project of transforming the world of academia, the examined work is rather an allegorical story criticising the condition of the scholars’ world than a project of its reform. In this article, the author chooses not to complement this critical vision with what can be learned from Comenius’ other works, and instead focuses only on the very picture of the world of scholars presented in the work under study. As a result, the author concludes that the most important message to the contemporary world of academia from Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart is a call for a moral-spiritual renewal.

Socio-Religious Visionaries in Bulgaria (1920–1950s): the Christo Oustabachieff Case

The article is a case study of the life, work and ideas of the Bulgarian political and religious figure Christo Oustabachieff (1871–1953). Beginning his career as a financial official, political activist and founder of one of the first xenophobic organizations, after the First World War he devoted himself entirely to religious activities: he founded the “Good Samaritan” Religious Society (1921), became leader and ideologist of the Orthodox Holy Society for Spiritual Renewal of the Bulgarian people (1924), of the "Greater (Peaceful) Bulgaria" Union (Political Party) (1926–1944), of the "St. John of Rila” National Defense Organization (1933) and of the Slavic-Bulgarian People's Christian Union (1945–1953). His ideas have a religious and political character and represent a prototype of the Christian Democratic tradition in Bulgaria. In the context of the post-WW1 crisis and the widespread of the New Religious Movements, he declared himself a spiritual leader and initially guided his numerous followers with oral prophecies, revelations and dreams. Developed in the 1930s in written messages, they acquired an eclectic character, uniting religious fundamentalism, messianism and prophetism. Oustabachieff 's political visions in the 1930s–1940s were strongly influenced by authoritarianism, nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. Their core was an idea of a Slavic monarchy – based on Christian Democratic values, a future center of a Balkan federation, and a realized Medieval and Bulgaria Revival period ideal of "Great Bulgaria”. The study uses historical approach and is based on unknown archival sources, combined with data from periodicals and published works of Oustabachieff.

‘Working in a comfort formerly unknown’: medical holism and the radical ambitions behind interwar Bermondsey’s foot clinic

In 1930, the Bermondsey Public Health Department made the rather unusual decision to establish the first municipal foot clinic in Britain. This pioneering and popular clinic was founded at a time when the aims of public health were being renegotiated. Historical discussion of the reconceptualisation of public health in the interwar period typically depicts a paradigm shift in which public health was no longer focused solely on sanitising the physical environment, but was characterised by an additional, separate aim: the development of hygienic behaviour within patients. While this narrative has proved helpful in explaining the emergence of health education between the wars, Bermondsey’s foot clinic challenges it somewhat. In essence, the foot clinic was an inventive and multifaceted attempt to treat Bermondsey’s rampant poverty. Chiefly, the clinic sought to improve the occupational fitness of the population in an area where most jobs required workers to be stood up all day. In addition, the foot clinic was expected to provoke physiological and spiritual renewal by freeing patients to move more naturally, according to specific contemporary modernist theories of movement. Finally, the architecture of the building which housed the foot clinic was designed to encourage its patients to adopt more hygienic ways of living in their own homes. Thus, the clinic’s aims are difficult to compartmentalise into either sanitisation of the lived environment or health education, since it sought to achieve both goals simultaneously. Fundamentally, this integrated approach to public health was rooted in a concept of health that upheld the interconnectedness of individual, communal and environmental well-being.

A Journey Through Romantic Heartbreak and Psychological Growth: An Exploratory Phenomenological Study of Adult Females

Romantic heartbreak is common, affects all genders, and does not spare the adolescent or adult. While some recover and experience growth beyond their pre-break-up state, others do not fully recover. What are the factors that facilitate or impede recovery? Could there be restoration for heartbreak? These are some questions that this study set out to explore. Using a phenomenological lens, eight Caucasian adult females who self-reported as experiencing heartbreak from heterosexual and same sex relationships were interviewed. Emerging themes from transcribed and coded interviews included relational evolution, decline, end, rumination, and recovery. While each relational phase transitioned to the next, the path of rumination influenced participants’ level of recovery. Results indicated that participants who exhibited productive rumination eventually achieved a state of mental and spiritual renewal. Several implications are discussed, including how counselors may help to facilitate productive client rumination and renewal post heartbreak.

Case Comment: Do Indigenous Peoples Have a Right to Limit Religious Proselytism Activities in Their Territories?

In ruling T-1022/01, the Colombian Constitutional Court responded to a claim brought by a member of the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia against the Yanacona Indigenous Council. The claimants alleged the violation of their rights to freedom of conscience, worship, and dissemination of thought based on two facts: (a) the refusal of their petition to carry out a “Spiritual Renewal Day” in the main square of the indigenous reservation of Caquiona, and (b) the interruption of the religious gatherings of the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia, as well as the prohibition of their pastors entering the indigenous reservation territory. The Court found no violation of the rights alleged. The purpose of this comment is to explore the understanding by the Colombian Constitutional Court of the right to cultural identity of indigenous communities, focusing particularly on whether it encompasses the right to be free from religious proselytism.

ON METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO TRAINING FUTURE TEACHERS OF KAZAKHSTAN FOR UPBRINGING WORK

Globalization, informatization, digitalization, led to large-scale changes that have problematized the modern process of upbringing. The modern practice of upbringing in Kazakhstan is aimed at solving the problem of forming an intellectual nation. The key figure in the upbringing process is the teacher. The modernization of public consciousness taking place in Kazakhstan, the renewal of both the content of education and the system of upbringing require understanding not only the content, but also the methodology of the professional training of teachers for the upbringing of children, for the organization of the upbringing system in educational organizations. We believe that the analysis of traditional and clarification of modern methodological foundations of professional training of future teachers of Kazakhstan for upbringing work will give us the opportunity to develop a strategy for training future teachers in the conditions of spiritual renewal of Kazakhstan's society. The article reveals the experience of Abai KazNPU. As a result of the conducted research, we came to the conclusion that the process of training a teacher in Kazakhstan, who has a high degree of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity, requires strengthening the upbringing and socializing components of the educational process of the university. The strategy of professional training of a modern teacher should be a polyparadigmatic concept with the leading role of ideas of personality-oriented, competence paradigm.

The Influence of Greek Spirituality on Russian Culture

In this article, we will analyze the influence of Greek spirituality on Russian culture in the second half of the 18th century, when Enlightenment ideas infused Russian society. Russian intellectual circles and the upper social class were inspired by Western categories of thought. The absence of a living theology that would give man the true meaning of life has caused tension and a great spiritual crisis in Russian society. One possible solution was to start a fight against the Enlightenment and reject any Western ideas. The second solution was to pay attention to the forgotten tradition and look for inspiration in it for the renewal of spiritual life. The spiritual renewal, known as the philokalic movement, leaned towards the second solution, building upon the Byzantine hesychastic tradition of the 14th century. This paved the way for a new era of Orthodox spirituality, which significantly influenced thinking and spiritual life in Russia. The movement of spiritual renewal is associated with the translation and publication of manuscripts written by Byzantine niptic authors, which were published in the book Dobrotolublye (gr. Philokalia). This significantly contributed to the spread of the hesychastic tradition in Russia and became an impetus for a return to Byzantine spiritual values. This article examines the spiritual, literary, and cultural activities of the most important centers of Russian Hesychasm, such as Sarov, Valaam, and Optina, and their influence on Russian society, which has not yet been recognized sufficiently.

In search of tolerant paths in renewing of the World

Discussed is the problem of search for tolerant paths in the spiritual renewal of the world. The modern world is oppressed by a person and forces to admit that he did not choose this world in goodwill, in which a lie, hypocrisy, meanness, envy, hatred, betrayal. The need to rise to a higher level of knowledge of the world in relationships and mutual understanding of people is the requirement of time. It is important through the tolerant consciousness to find bonding paths leading to spiritual unity with all people of the planet. The technique creates convenience, but also lead to the crisis of human relations. It cannot specify the value guidelines, reveal the soul of the person and fill the content of those kind basements, without which the human life does not make sense. It is necessary to find ways in the modern world uniting all people and expand their intellectual and moral possibilities, through education and culture

Conclusion

The conclusion summarizes and returns to the key issues that are covered in the book. The question in Acts 1:6 implies restoration for Israel, which is evident throughout Luke and Acts. The restoration envisaged is comprehensive and collective. It entails spiritual renewal but also political and national restoration for the people of Israel. For Luke, the process leading toward Israel’s recovery has already begun ever since Jesus fulfilled his earthly mission in Jerusalem and reigns from the heavens above. However, due to complications, which divine providence had anticipated, full recovery, for the time being, eludes Israel. This will happen only at the parousia when Jesus returns to the city of Jerusalem as the victorious king of Israel. The chapter concludes with a critical reflection on the potential (ir)relevance of the historical investigation of Luke’s Jewish eschatology for discussing contemporary theological and political issues, including the state of Israel and Palestinian rights to national-political self-determination.