Late Antiquity (4th–7th centuries A.D.), saw a surge of private church construction in the land of Israel and the broader Near East, driven by Christian patrons’ desire for prestige and devotion to local saints, according to new research by Prof. Jacob Ashkenazi of Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee.Prof. Ashkenazi's article in the journal Levant, "Why so many? Analysing church multiplicity in Late Antique southern Levant," is behind the subscription wall, but you can read the abstract for free at the link above.Published in the Levant journal, Ashkenazi's findings also show a clear contrast with nearby Jewish communities, which focused their resources on single, centralized synagogues that served as village community centers.
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