Published on April 4, 2019 by Sean Flynt  
Samford religion professor James Strange
Samford religion professor James Strange

Samford religion professor and archaeologist James Strange will present a lecture on “The Roman Period Synagogue at Kefar Shiḥin” at an international symposium at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland April 9-10.

The symposium will include Israeli, European, and American scholars and focus on first and second century synagogues in Galilee. Strange’s topic is informed by many years of archaeological research at the site of the ancient village of Shikhin, whose synagogue is one of the few second-century synagogues to have been found. Strange will describe excavation of the structure and present the evidence for dating it to an as-yet unexplained “lost” period of synagogues.

The Shikhin Excavation Project, a collaboration between Samford and Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology at Israel’s Kinneret College, has previously shed new light on a small community of Roman period clay oil lamp makers.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.