Ukrainian model of lustration: Legal specificities and social consequences

The purpose of this article is a systematic analysis of the legal specificities and social consequences of the Ukrainian model of lustration. Based on the formal-legal method and the method of legal interpretation, the authors study more than 20 international and national “lustration” acts that regulate various aspects of government cleansing. Relying on the results of the legal analysis, the authors develop their periodisation of the stages of government cleansing of legal regulation in Ukraine. The obtained results allow considering the beginning of lustration in Ukraine not as traditionally defined legal prohibitions on holding public service by certain categories of civil servants; but restoration of parliamentary-presidential republic model in Ukraine, power deconcentration, and decentralisation. Using the method of legal modeling, the authors substantiate the feasibility of providing the entire theoretical approach to lustration in a narrow and broad sense. This actualises the study of lustration as a legal phenomenon not only from the standpoint of personal renewal of power, but as a legislative strengthening of democratic principles of public service. The authors emphasise the need to modernise international regulations establishing lustration standards. Based on the sociological research secondary data analysis, the paper identifies such negative social consequences of lustration in the Ukrainian society as the stigmatisation of “lustrated” civil servants, public service deprofessionalisation, and weakening of social cohesion in Ukraine. This work is of practical value for countries in democratic transit, which have the opportunity to ensure a dialectical balance between respect for human rights and the protection of democracy, relying on the peculiarities of the Ukrainian experience

The transformative power embedded in Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου and Ἀκολούθει μοι in Matthew as gospel embodiment in contemporary ecclesial discipleship

Are churches missing some key aspects of discipleship? Are churches missing a primary way in which Jesus ushered people into a journey of personal renewal? I think that it is clearly the case, and that the transformative power that ecclesial communities seek is to be found in Jesus’ invitations to follow. Jesus invited people in his day to ‘Follow Me’ (Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου or Ἀκολούθει μοι).Contribution: Implicit in these invitations are ideas like embodiment and movement, ideas that are vital in leading to deep and authentic personal as well as communal, transformation.

Vanishing Worlds: Epic Disappearance in Manhattan Beach

In Jennifer Egan's manhattan beach, certain aspects of american culture—farmland in brooklyn, the ziegfeld follies, Jean Harlow's curls, the “old salts” who sailed in wooden ships (259)—are recalled at the moment of their vanishing. These and other disappearances provide evidence that, in the novel, historical change is treated as an epic trope. At the same time, disappearances mark swerves in an individual character's destiny as novelistic events. In its blending of history with individuals' stories, Manhattan Beach can be called an epic novel, along the lines of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and Don DeLillo's Libra. Whereas novels particularize individual experience in an evolving present, epics position individual destinies in a fixed, complete history. Novels differ from epics in the distance that they take from their respective subjects, though the two genres demonstrate “all-inclusiveness” and “expansiveness” (Merchant 71, 93). The epic novel mobilizes at the point where national ambitions overlay personal stories. hrough the trope of disappearance, Manhattan Beach correlates the epic ambition to show historical transformation with the novelistic ambition to represent personal renewal. Disappearances may be escapes, but they also forecast characters' fresh starts and future convergences.

Lifelong Learning and Personal Renewal

In the chapter, the authors present an introduction to an established educational model, namely the scout method. They also show how some principles of scouting education could be applied to entrepreneurial education. In the second part of the chapter, the authors draw the attention of the reader to the importance of continuous learning, namely, lifelong learning.

Deindustrialisation, Community, and Adult Education: The North East England Experience

This article argues for the continued importance of adult education in communities, an approach to adult education which has been maligned and ignored in policy that has, instead, incessantly prioritised employability skills training. The significance of adult education in communities is that it seeks to build the curriculum from the interests, aspirations, and problems that people experience in their everyday lives by providing opportunities for individual and collective change (more below). We draw on data taken from a study by one of the authors, which used a life history approach to explore the outcomes for 14 people from the deindustrialised North East England of participation in either employability skills training or community adult education. We document several themes through these stories: churning, surveillance, precarity, demoralisation, ontological insecurity, and personal renewal.

The Readiness is All: Here Am I. Send Me.

<p align="center">The article uses contextual biography to examine the psychological and existential dimensions of “an internal environment that interacts with the other contexts in which the [author] evolves (Vidal, F., 2003, p. 73). Through a network of enterprises (Gruber, 1980) as a key aspect of that internal environment, this contextual autobiography conceptualizes a slice of the author’s life through the integration of particular literary and life contexts and her position within these background experiences. By using a unique and creative narrative of personal experiences, the author posits the universal or ontological problem of understanding the “all” of readiness for one of Shakespeare’s central characters with the juxtaposition of her own life as undertaken through the literary contexts examined. A catastrophic spinal injury coupled with the loss of her beloved father serve as prime catalysts for extreme life changes for the author creating questions of self-doubt and self-awareness, and whether the readiness for her was indeed, all. The article purposively adds to our understanding of how the internal environment and network of enterprises within an individual’s life experiences juxtaposed with literary contexts may profoundly inspire others to live unique lives of action and readiness. Findings of the study present the participant’s joyful journey of discovery and personal renewal with the most important lesson learned being that education is the ticket to a life of freedom and personal success. </p>

Personal Renewal between Heidelberg and Westminster

This article deals with the theology of personal renewal in the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession. In the first part the theological structures of the Heidelberg Catechism are examined. Characteristic for the Heidelberg Catechism is the Christ-centered structure, the function of the law, and the pessimistic tone about personal renewal in relation to a remaining humiliation. In the second part the differences with the Westminster Confession are made clear. The Westminster is less pessimistic about personal renewal and the covenant structure of this confession gives the framework for a substantializing of the human person. The third and last part of this article pleads for an integration of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession. The Christ-centered structure of the Heidelberg is a strong element in the reformed tradition, while the covenant framework gives an opportunity to do justice to the human person.

Older Adults’ Participation in Education and Successful Aging: Implications for University Continuing Education in Canada

Representatives from Manitoba seniors’ organizations and the University of Manitoba collaborated on a proposal to examine the participation of older adults in learning activities. The initiative led to a series of studies on this theme, including an exploration of participation at a seniors’ centre (Sloane-Seale & Kops, 2004), a comparison of participants and non-participants at three selected urban seniors’ centres (Sloane-Seale & Kops, 2007), and an analysis of participation at several urban and rural seniors’ centres, as well as participants’ perceptions of the characteristics of successful aging (Sloane-Seale & Kops, 2008). Building on these previous studies, the study described in this article examined the participation of older adults in Manitoba and how it links to successful aging. Key statistics relating to older adults’ participation, types of educational activities, learning in later life, and characteristics of successful aging were collected. The results suggest that such participation leads to a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of successful aging; that educational activities positively influence mental and physical activity, which in turn result in more positive health and well- being; and that spirituality and life planning, including a positive sense of self, a focus on personal renewal and growth, a connection to the broader community, and setting life goals, contribute to successful aging. In light of Canada’s aging population, these findings have implications for educational gerontology, lifelong learning, and continuing education practice and research.