Scientific data, ecological conversion and transformative affect

Scientific data supporting rational arguments for human-made causes of climate and environmental changes might be persuasive in some contexts. Law, policy, activism and The Earth Charter similarly appear insufficient to change attitudes and behaviours. Even biblical and theological arguments fail to move some Christians beyond apathy and climate denial. Decades of ecological theology and calls for ecological conversion suggest that appeals to reason and facts are limited without an affective epistemology that join knowledge and experience to produce worldview transformation through emotions, such as awe.Contribution: Departing from appeal to scientific data and arguments alone, the primary claim is that ecological conversion is not singularly a rational act. For broader engagement and action to mitigate climate and environmental degradation, experiential and affective encounter with nature promise wider participation and transformation.

Educating During the Great Transformation

During this shifting of historical epochs, the “usual ways of doing things” is catalysing existential questions about the survival of humanity. Yet, it is precisely these points of severe disruption where the creation of something more complex and life-giving can evolve. In this article, we explore how the dominant Separation Paradigm has created the current disruptive socio-natural conditions. Individuals and societies steeped within the Separation Paradigm are unwittingly destructive, because they do not perceive, and thus unintentionally sever, the incomprehensibly relational nature of our universe. We summarise the overarching dynamics of the Separation Paradigm and critique how existent learning processes, including sustainability education, are reproducing the Separation Paradigm. A salve to the diverse manifestations of Separation, we describe multiple sources of the Relationality Paradigm as well as implications for relational ways of knowing and being, through an interweaving of theoretical and personal vignettes. Finally, we sketch the implications of a possible worldview transformation for educators and processes of education, particularly within transformative sustainability education.

MENTAL COHESION AS A FACTOR OF POLITICAL CULTURE

Discussions of the humankind future problems touch upon the aspect of political culture. The involvement of the socio-psychological category of cohesion will make it possible to specify regulatory mechanisms in the format of a human relations model. Interdisciplinary complexity occurs with the involvement of the concepts of worldview transformation, planetary identity and people-globalizers. The language of the topic meets global challenges, demonstrating solidarity as a social-psychological indicator of group dynamics scenario of response to situations associated with risks to health and life. Interdisciplinarity substantively refracts the concept of cohesion into the plane of dynamics of worldview transformations. Political psychology sets the vector of its operationality within the basic scheme of subject-setting – action-object. Mental cohesion leads to a global dimension of planetary identity.

Nurturing Vulnerability to Develop Pedagogical Change Through MOOC Participation and Public Blogging

Despite several decades of ground-breaking achievements in music education research and practice, the discipline’s status continues to stagnate, especially among our children and our governments. To address this stagnation, in 2016 the University of Sydney launched an internationally available Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) titled “The Place of Music in 21st-Century Education.” The intent of offering this course was to provoke critical thinking among music educators in order to break the cultural cycle that centers curricular music education around teachers’ (most likely Western art music) experience, and ask them to grapple with social and technological changes in education more broadly. To address concerns with authenticity in learning and the MOOC model, the MOOC integrated social media use into every main assessment. Participants—over 1,600 educators, students, artists, and the general public—were asked to publicly blog their responses to provocations on these topics and then to read each other’s posts and respond. In this study, we analyze funneled (Clow, 2013) data from the blogs and MOOC interactions. We find evidence for critical thinking and worldview transformation from a number of participants, and conclude that the experience of engaging publicly via social media engendered a vulnerability that may have made those new to the field and experienced professionals alike more open to change. The blogging-feedback loop prompted the formation of a social structure reminiscent of a community of practice or affinity space.

Contextualized Tirakat Form to Christian Spiritual Formation among Javanese

Tirakat is an important part in Javanese culture. It points to a spiritual path in a sense of a method of a spiritual practice. The ways of tirakat have been an element of the culture for centuries. It is for this situation that evangelizing and nurturing newly non-Christian Javanese converted have been a challenge for Adventist ministry. This research attempts to seek an answer of the church which is expected to find some strategies for nurturing the members from Javanese culture background. The new converts are isolated from their background and stay in a new culture in the church. Consequently, some of the new members cannot survive in the new culture, custom, and rituals. This study addresses the issue of contextualized tirakat form to spiritual formation as a part of discipling new members in the local church. An analysis of both theological-biblical and cultural practice indicates that some elements of the tirakat ritual are strongly correlated with the Christian spiritual formation. The tirakat form can be contextualized in the spiritual formation form to experience spiritual growth. By giving a new meaning and modified form the believers are able to keep the tirakat ritual based on the Scriptures teaching. An evaluation of tirakat practice found some positive elements which can be continued to the form of Christian formation. However, the negative aspects need functional substitutes or discontinued. Through the worldview transformation the tirakat form as spiritual formation activity will lead the Javanese congregation to have good spiritual growth, strong faith, and ability to involve in the church mission and ministry. Keywords: tirakat; discipleship; spiritual formation; Javanese congregation

Ukraine in the 21st Century: Strengthening Civilisational Agency

The article addresses the issue of Ukraine’s civilisational agency in the modern world. The authors state that a civilisational destiny of a state is determined by geopolitical actors claiming a superpower status, the state’s own choice, people’s will, its political and intellectual elite. Then, a state becomes a unit of international relations and law, world geopolitics, science, art; a civilisational actor of history, the present, and the future. Ukraine strives to become such an actor, have its civilisational project, and implement it. Our country is located between the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian civilisational societies, thus its capacity to be an actor in the modern globalised world is contingent on efficient cooperation with both of the societies. The authors believe that the implementation of the civilisational project of Ukraine as an actor and not as an object of modern world lies in systemic cooperation with the international actors which accept freedom and dignity of a human being as fundamental values. The authors single out the civilisational measures of such a society, which is a society of trust, social and political partnership, and balanced interaction of the rule of law and civil society. In its civilisational project of the 21st century, Ukraine should stand for a society of innovations and information, where a person can live up to her full potential. It is about the worldview transformation of consciousness and relations among people, countries, civilisations, and civilisational worlds. The implementation of this project is a fundamental condition for ensuring the national security and existence of Ukraine as an independent state. That is indeed a noble cause of Ukraine and its people in the multifaceted world of the 21st century. Keywords: Eurasian civilisational society, Euro-Atlantic direction, agency of Ukraine, independent state.

Wrestling with Wickedness

I question the formulation of complex problems as “wicked,” brainstorming other, more fruitful alternatives to this terminology. Such problems are typically contrasted with “tame” problems; the literature charges that one should not treat a problem as “tame” when it is “wicked.” Given this, I question both the individualistic consumer approach to climate change and a typical approach from the field of religion and ecology, which may only focus on worldview transformation. Both of these are too “tame” to solve climate change. I argue that the problem of climate change should be seen as “wild.” Scholars of religion do have helpful resources to address such mammoth imbroglios, but we must nevertheless honor the problem’s wildness.