Report on 2010-2013 Excavations at Horvat Kur, Galilee

Four seasons of excavations at Horvat Kur in the Galilee (250570/754485) have exposed the remains of a broadhouse synagogue from the Byzantine period. The building was entered through a portico on the west or a doorway on the south. The fill beneath the portico included the discarded remains of a once colored mosaic as well as more than 1000 coins. A low bench of basalt stones (some of which were plastered) runs along the interior walls, interrupted only by a stone bemah in the center of the southern wall. The synagogue is thus oriented toward Jerusalem. Near the bemah, an ornamented limestone seat was found in situ atop the bench. The building underwent several changes and repairs in the course of its lifespan. On either side of the bemah, north-south rows of columns rested on stylobate. A basalt stone table was found in re-use in the eastern stylobate. Nicknamed “the Horvat Kur stone,” this monolith features geometric figures on three sides and figurative representations on one side. Its original function is as yet subject of research. A narrow test-trench into the sediment of a cistern located outside the northern wall of the synagogue has produced nearly thirty intact vessels of the early Byzantine period, mostly cooking pots and water jars. In addition a dense sequence of pollen samples has been taken. Preliminary interpretation of these finds indicates that the Horvat Kur synagogue illustrates Byzantine synagogue construction, decoration, and use in the setting of a Galilean village of modest economic circumstances.

The Kinneret Regional Project Excavations of a Byzantine Synagogue at Horvat Kur, Galilee, 2010-2013: A Preliminary Report

The article presents the preliminary results from four seasons of excavations at Horvat Kur in the Galilee. The excavations conducted by the Kinneret Regional Project have exposed the remains of a broad-house synagogue from the Byzantine period. The most important finds include an elevated platform (i. e., a bemah) that supported a chest holding Torah scrolls, an ornamented limestone seat that was probably used by the leader of the congregation, and a basalt stone table that features geometric figures on three sides and figurative representations on one side. The Horvat Kur synagogue represents a valuable example of the diversity of Galilean synagogues that were built or renovated between the 5th and the 7th centuries C.E.

El valor estructural de la magia en el universo pastoril de Lope de Vega

The different aspects of magic became an essential ingredient of bucolic universe since the origin of pastoral genre. Within an idealized and utopic frame, magic built a bridge towards transcendence, and balanced the disharmony created by human love emotions within Arcadian microcosm. This concept of magic became infused to Sixteenth century pastoral novel through Neoplatonism and Hermetic tradition. From a narratological point of view, magic episodes became indispensable to complete the philosophical meaning of the works. Lope de Vega, in La Arcadia, published in 1598, fully participated from this tradition, though he will approach the convention from a particular dramatic-like perspective. And it was precisely in pastoral comedias where the Fénix ends up deconstructing bucolic code to remodel it as a mere vestige of the tradition and treat magic as a humorous ingredient.

Value Priorities and Content of Religiosity - New Research Perspectives

In this study the relationship of religiosity and value priorities is differentiated, based on a multidimensional measurement of different contents of religiosity. The structure of values is conceptualized using Schwartz’ (1992) two orthogonal dimensions of Self-transcendence vs. Self-enhancement and Openness to change vs. Conservation. The relations between these two dimensions and eight religious contents, ranging from open-minded to more close-minded forms of religiosity, were tested in a sample of church attenders (N = 685), gathered in Germany. The results show, that depending on the content of religiosity, different values are preferred (self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition and security values). The results indicate the importance of the content of religiosity for predicting value-loaded behaviors.

Systemic evaluation - a contribution to Swiss development research

Systemic thinking may be traced hack to several roots. Some of them can he found in Taoism, the basic concepts of which are the achievement of cosmic harmony and a well-balanced social order. Others can be found in Greek philosophy. Similarly, modern physics in its most advanced branches is now recognizing basic aspects of these same roots in a scientific guise. The more the process of research and theory building advances, the more phenomena are recognized as complex and interdependent with other phenomena. Interdisciplinary research and the constitution of new disciplines are contributing to a scientific approximation of integral reality, which is becoming more and more like the one everyone knows as prescientific. The transcendence of the narrow boundaries of positivist sciences seems to be becoming a necessity for scientific evolution. The ecological crisis of the twentieth century may itself lead to increased systemic thinking, and it is in full awareness of the fact that there are no simple solutions that the systemic evaluator tries to cope with the problems of the dynamics of social and political interventions in the Third World as a means of development co-operation..