Jubilee issue of the PJES - list of contents From the Editor (7) The Feminine/Domestic Landscape and a Search for Identity in Deborah Levy’s Real Estate (9) Ewa Kowal, Jagiellonian University in Kraków John Banville’s Novels of the Early Twenties: Terminations and Turns (24) Barbara Puschmann-Nalenz Neo-Victorianism in John Harwood’s The Ghost Writer: Spectral and Textual Communications (50) Bożena Kucała, Jagiellonian University in Kraków “Jolted into Submission”: Masters and Slaves in Paul Auster’s The Music of Chance and Mr. Vertigo (64) Nahid Fakhrshafaie, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman Jalal Sokhanvar, Shahid Beheshti University Isaiah, Daniel and Luke: Exploring Scriptural Material of Medieval Books of Hours in English (84) Maja Hordyjewicz, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin New Vistas on Cultural Awareness among English Foreign Language Teachers at the Algerian Primary Education (103) Chahrazed Hamzaoui, University of Ain-Temouchent Usage of English in Healthcare Settings: A Study on Patients’ Experiences and Language Preference in Bangladesh (120) Abdul Awal, University of Łódź Taboo in Translation in the Polish Versions of Philip Larkin’s “This Be The Verse” (146) Krzysztof Puławski, University of Białystok Review: Heather Meek, 2023. Reimagining Illness: Women Writers and Medicine in Eighteenth-Century Britain (166) Tomasz Fisiak, University of Łódź

This research delves into the world of Talmudic and pretalmudic literature, shedding light on the genre of Etiquette for Judgeship, known as Adab al-qāḍī in Arabic, resonating within Judaism and finding expression in Islam. The study suggests that the roots of this genre extend into the ancient world of biblical and rabbinical literatures, challenging the notion that medieval genres arise in isolation. To understand the evolution of the genre, it is essential to illuminate the creative contributions of the Geonim, establishing a link between the ancient world and the pre-modern medieval era. Within both biblical and Rabbinic literature, a recurring motif emerges—using literature as a catalyst for moral, ethical, or political change. This lecture aims to demonstrate that reference books, often perceived as technical, transcend their apparent purpose. These texts are philosophical, historical, and religious, bearing an educational agenda. They carry objectives and ideologies, functioning as guides that influence and transform their audience. The lecture challenges the notion of manuals as purely technical documents, contending that these manuals, including the Bible itself, serve a multifaceted purpose. They are not only repositories of technical information but also jurisprudential treatises and historical documents. The lecture aims to underscore that these texts, by providing guidelines for living, actively contribute to the preservation and development of a particular ideology. In essence, this exploration suggests that the Bible, as a comprehensive literary work, operates as more than a religious scripture—it is a guidebook for better holy life, offering insights into moral conduct, ethical considerations, and political ideals. The research towards the roots of this halakhic genre invites a reconsideration of how these ancient texts continue to shape and influence human behavior and societal norms across cultures and epochs.

'This impressive book explores a new dimension in the relationship between political regime and international cooperation. In comprehensive empirical analysis that skilfully combines different methodological approaches and new data, the authors highlight how non-democratic regional organizations consolidate authoritarian rule through legitimation and economic benefits.' Christina L. Davis, Harvard University 'In this highly original study, Obydenkova and Libman detail how regime-type matters for international regional organizations. Through cross-national statistical analysis and detailed case studies of regional organizations in Eurasia, they show that regionalism has positive benefits for [non-democratic] regimes in terms of legitimation and leadership survival.' Mark R. Beissinger, Princeton University 'We have few systematic studies of the non-democratic organizations. This book provides a rich and innovative study which helps us understand this growing and important phenomenon. The volume is essential reading for those interested in international organizations and in authoritarian politics.' Jon C. W. Pevehouse, University of Wisconsin-Madison '[T]his groundbreaking and exhaustively researched book offers a definitive portrait of the new and potent phenomenon of authoritarian regionalism. Through quantitative analysis and revealing case studies, it shows how non-democratic regional organizations legitimate and sustain authoritarianism.. .. a vital and sobering contribution to the fields of comparative politics and international relations.' Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution, Stanford University '[S]ophisticated and insightful. .. Autocratic Regionalism explains how autocracies have avoided the once-celebrated end of history by … creating regional organizations of their own. Authors' account traces the development of regional organizations from the 19th century to our own era. .. an innovative, important, and substantive contribution to international relations and comparative politics.'

The belief that persons are images of God offers powerful constructs for imagining and thinking about a spiritual journey. What about; who we are makes a relationship possible with God? What are the goals of a spiritual journey given who we are to God? Catherine of Siena’s wisdom regarding persons as images of God offers answers to these questions. This study presents a textual analysis of Catherine’s metaphor-filled rhetoric on this topic and shows how Catherine, an uneducated woman mystic appropriated the foundational systematic teaching of Augustine of Hippo on persons as images of God having memory, understanding and will. Catherine asserts that persons as images of God having these three powers of the soul are created out of God’s love with a capacity to love and to be in a relationship of love, first of all, with God. The spiritual journey essentially consists in transcending – through God’s redemptive love – all that obscures this created capacity. Contribution: This study contributes by highlighting the importance of theological anthropology – both as a theological tenet and as a belief – to the way persons imagine and live a spiritual journey. Furthermore, it shows how Augustine of Hippo’s formulations, foundational for Christianity, influenced a medieval mystic and can be relevant for spiritual practice today. Accordingly, this study concludes with suggestions about how this patristic and medieval understanding of persons can be appropriated for today’s spiritual life