From the Monarchy to the Holocaust: The Zahler Family of Košice/Kassa

The study aims to map the life and carrier trajectory of a Jewish attorney from the city of Košice between the 19th century and the immediate post-WWII years. Based on archival documents and materials from the Zahler family archives documents, the different historical contexts in which the Zahlers lived are investigated including the Dual Monarchy, the first Czechoslovak Republic, the wartime Hungarian Kingdom and post-WWII Czechoslovakia. It aims to answer the following questions: How did the Jewish elite from this region of East Central Europe experience the shifting regimes? How did they relate to the minority policy of interwar Czechoslovakia? What characterized the language use of the Košice Jewry in the period under investigation? What survival strategies did Jews choose during World War II? And what do we know about family members who survived the Holocaust? It is argued that the investigation on the Zahler family represents an excellent case study for research on the Jewish upper middle class which settled down in historical Hungary in the first decades of the 19th century, or earlier and lived in the Slovak – Hungarian border region until the immediate post-WWII years

Beyond the Town Hall: Aligning Employees and Volunteers through Automated, Personalized Mission Communication

The disconnect between employees and volunteers and an organization’s mission often leads to misalignment, inefficiencies, and reduced engagement. MissionClarity.io is a transformative SaaS platform designed to bridge this gap by enabling leaders to deliver personalized, automated communications tailored to each team member’s learning preferences. By fostering mission alignment at scale, the platform empowers organizations to achieve greater cohesion, productivity, and purpose. Research revealed that while leaders are deeply connected to their missions, this clarity often diminishes as it is communicated throughout the organization. Traditional communication methods are time-intensive, inconsistent, and fail to account for diverse learning styles. Insights from workshops and stakeholder interviews highlighted the need for a leader-driven, scalable tool that supports consistent and personalized messaging. Alignment with an organization’s mission can transform culture and outcomes. This vocational experience inspired the creation of MissionClarity.io, a platform that automates mission communication. Leaders input organizational data—such as the mission statement and employee roles—and the system uses advanced technology to generate weekly communications tailored to each employee’s preferences, fostering engagement and deeper connection to the mission. MissionClarity.io offers immediate benefits by initiating consistent conversations about mission alignment, which were often sporadic or nonexistent. Long-term impacts include higher employee morale, greater alignment with organizational goals, and enhanced operational efficiency. With its scalable design and innovative approach, MissionClarity.io represents a paradigm shift in mission-driven communication, ensuring that leaders can foster a culture of purpose and alignment across their teams

Good Neighbors Racial Healing Journey: Ministry of the Good Neighbors Racial Healing Initiative

NPO Statement: Christians of color struggle with forgiveness amid ongoing racial trauma, while White Christians often avoid engagement due to fear, hindering racial reconciliation efforts. My doctoral project began as an exploration of healing and reconciliation within Christian communities but became a personal journey of confronting racial trauma. Initially, I did not see racial trauma as central to my work. However, at my first retreat at Cannon Beach, I was forced to reckon with the impact of microaggressions and systemic racism on my sense of self. Years in predominantly white spaces had left me with internalized messages that my voice, presence, and leadership were less valuable. Through this experience, I came to understand that racial trauma—both intergenerational and personal—affects us deeply, even in our bodies. Confronting racial trauma is essential to meaningfully engaging in racial reconciliation and justice. This realization led me to integrate embodied practices, storytelling, and radical hospitality into my project to foster healing and belonging. I serve as the Assistant Pastor at Anchor Church in North Buffalo, overseeing spiritual formation and pastoral care. I am also a hospital chaplain at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, providing spiritual care to patients and families. The Good Neighbors Racial Healing Journey is a ten-month curriculum designed to bring together Christians from diverse racial backgrounds (White and BIPOC) to heal from racial trauma and engage in racial justice within the Church. It is the primary ministry of the Good Neighbors Racial Healing Initiative, a holistic approach to racial healing through trauma recovery, community gardening, and racial justice advocacy. The Journey serves as the foundation, with the other components to be developed after graduation to foster reconciliation and systemic change in Christian communities

The Soul Journey: A Response to the Evangelical Exodus

NPO Statement Many leaving the white American Evangelical Church still long for spiritual connection but lack a “container” for pursuing formation and community. Key Insights Most of those caught in the Evangelical Exodus still love Jesus but have been injured by one or more of these particular malformations in the organized church: 1) political entanglement, 2) power mismanagement, 3) flawed theological narratives, 4) cultural exclusion, 5) and social justice neglect. They find themselves spiritually homeless and invisible, retaining vague yearnings for deeper connection yet emotionally exhausted by the trauma of leaving Church. My most compelling insight was that the organized church serves as an effective container for our lives, providing support and definition for vital elements of identity, fellowship, personal growth, education of children, political ideology, crisis care, and community service. When Christians leave the organized church, it leaves a massive void in many of these areas. Ministry Context Together with my wife Kellie, I co-lead a small nonprofit called The Vining Center in the mountains of North Carolina. Our sphere of influence is primarily regional with a growing online constituency. Our entire focus shifted over the course of this program to address this particular audience—the post-Evangelical de-churched—and fill some of these gaps. Project Description The SOUL Journey consists of four semesters of 10-week gatherings—either in person, online, or a hybrid of the two. Each weekly gathering will last approximately two hours and contain roughly equal parts presentation, small group discussion, and real-time spiritual practice. My content is drawn from the monastic, Celtic, and Christian mystic traditions with the goal of moving participants from a propositionally-based spirituality toward an experientially-based spirituality more likely to produce actual transformation. The engagement of this material will be inherently communal in a cohort of twelve and a small group of four

Whittier & Lorena Williams. Kotzebue, AK

Whittier and Lorena Williams. Kotzebue, AKhttps://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/perisho_alaska/1235/thumbnail.jp

Lucy Hadley, Buckland, AK

Lucy Hadley, Buckland, AK.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/perisho_alaska/1282/thumbnail.jp

Daniel Gabelman and Amanda B. Vernon, eds., Unsaying the Commonplace: George MacDonald and the Critique of Victorian Convention

A review of Daniel Gabelman and Amanda B. Vernon, eds., Unsaying the Commonplace: George MacDonald and the Critique of Victorian Convention (Hamden, CT: Winged Lion Press, 2024). 283 pages. $20.00. ISBN 9781935688440

Letter to the Editors

Letter to the Editor of Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe (OPREE