The theatricality of eating in the life of St. Francis of Assisi

I examine the role of food, eating, and meals in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. I observe that his experience significantly differs from that of the female fasting saints. I show that his concern lies with the justifiability of eating, and that food is associated with dramatic lessons that instruct or chastise others. I argue that, like Christ, Francis uses food and eating to teach, to share a message, or to accept outsiders.     

Muslim Selbstverständnis: Ahmet Davutoğlu answers Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences

In formulating his understanding of Islamic history, thought and politics, the Turkish Muslim thinker Ahmet Davuto?lu approves and adopts the German philosopher Edmund Husserl's formulation of phenomenology — or, philosophy of consciousness. Both Husserl and Davuto?lu perceive a crisis in humanity and identify its causes in scientism and logical positivism, against which they develop their respective phenomenological alternatives. This article places in parallel Husserl's stylised history of Western thought and Weltanschauung method with that of Davuto?lu's Muslim worldview, in order to illuminate the latter's putatively comprehensive interpretation of Islam, diagnosis of the ills of secularism, modernisation, and crisis of values he finds in Muslim societies; and his prescribed treatment for those ills: the privileging of ontology over epistemology, and the full unfolding of core theological concepts of revelation, monotheism, and prophecy. Davuto?lu seeks to reconcile tensions and disputes within Islamic intellectual traditions concerning the nature of God and God's attributes, and the tension between mysticism and rationalism, and the historical and the atemporal. In summary, Davuto?lu's intervention in Islamic traditions is interesting in the effort it makes to appropriate elements of both Husserl and GWF Hegel for the purpose of reconciling a phenomenological reading of Islam with established Islamic authorities and commitments.     

The Decentralization Process of Rural Development Policy in Greece

This study aims at critically assessing the decentralization process of rural policy-making and delivery in Greece. Drawing upon a case study of the farm modernization scheme, research findings indicate that despite remarkable decentralization efforts, rural development in Greece seems to maintain its primarily state-emanated design and implementation. Long-standing top-down and sectoral orientation in the formulation of this policy still holds. Apart from the redistribution of responsibilities and the multiplication of competent authorities, a genuine delegation of competencies and resources is needed, coupled with a renewed awareness of integrated policies from the actors involved at all administrative levels.