WHAT AM I STUDYING?

The greatest impact for me will literally be the "being" here... being in the Holy Land, and the study of its people and customs and attitudes and hopes and hurts. Being in a place where so many significant events took place for the three major world religions is very powerful. That in itself could take a lifetime and then more. Someone who visited the Holy Land once said, "The air is thick with the Holy." That is true for me.

We have toured in and around Jerusalem including parts of the West Bank (the Israeli occupied territories). As we travel we learn about places to which we may want to return and spend more time. We are being exposed to some of the people who live here. Local people as well as people who have chosen to move here and make it their home. So, much of this course is simply being here in the Land that was Jesus' homeland and where he exercised his ministry.

We do have formal classes and my first one is tomorrow morning (Thursday). This course will serve to introduce us to the Middles East. It's peculiarities and its subtlies and its complex nature. And believe me... it IS complex!

Other subjects are "The Meaning of Pilgrimage in the Holy Land", "Ecumenism - Its Biblical Foundations", "History of the Holy Land", "One But Divided Church", "The Bible and The Talmud", "Geography", Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and the list goes on and on.

These months look like an exciting and a fully packed sabbatical. It has begun well.