The Holy Land becomes a classroom for TWU students.

Ever wonder what it's like to float on the Dead Sea, walk where Jesus walked, or ride a boat on the Sea of Galilee? For most, these activities describe the vacation of a lifetime, but for 28 Trinity Western University participants, this is just another day at school.

From May 3-21, TWU will launch an innovative travel study program that offers students the opportunity to earn university credits while experiencing the sights and sounds of biblically significant locales.

Students can choose up to two courses of the four facilitated by Professors Kent Clarke, Ph.D. and Ivan De Silva, M.Div.: Introduction to Old Testament Studies, Introduction to New Testament Studies, Biblical Archaeology, and the Life and Teaching of Jesus. “Studying the story of the Bible in the land in which it is set, moves biblical studies from a two-dimensional experience to a three dimensional one,” says De Silva. “Students no longer just read about the events; they see, hear, smell and touch them as well.”

Every location is connected with a discipline, and the course curriculum will be taught at various locations around Israel, including a trip to Bethlehem and lecture at Bethlehem Bible College, a tour of the Valley of Elah (site of David and Goliath’s famous battle), and Caesarea Maritima (Herod's harbor retreat—which also served as a launching point for Paul's missionary journeys and later, was the site of his imprisonment). “The professors will be teaching in a land where the land is the classroom,” says TWU’s Lucy Gerbrandt, who is organizing as well as participating in the trip. “It’s our first travel study trip to Israel, and our content experts will teach our students.”

In addition to the teaching of TWU professors, students will receive an insider’s guide to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, from Jewish archaeologist Hanan Eschel. Other locations include a visit to Herod’s fortress, Masada, where the last Jewish Zealot resi
stance was crushed. Students will tour Ein Gedi, an oasis on the edge of the Judean desert, where David hid from Saul in the numerous clefts and caves lining its craggy trails and visit the Golan Heights and the Mount of Beatitudes.
 
Students will also visit Eilat (the oasis the Israelites encountered after crossing the Red Sea), the city of Petra (a UNESCO World Heritage Site carved out of the rock), and St. Catherine's Monastery. The trip ends in Jerusalem where the Temple, Mount of Olives, Old City, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Garden Tomb are located.

“Educators tell us that the more senses we can engage in studying a topic, the deeper we will understand it,” De Silva says. “This is what we've designed the trip to be: a fully tactile experience that will deeply impact the students and etch the story of the Bible in their memories.”