Master of Arts

Domestic & International Course Offerings

Tantur, Israel

(Summer 2010)

THEO 64210. The Holy Land (ST, HC)
3 credits, Gabriel Reynolds
Variable times and days 6/6-6/19
Tanur, Israel
In our course “The Holy Land” we will investigate the manner in which Christians and Muslims through the centuries have understood the religious dimension of Palestine, and of Jerusalem in particular.  In the first section of the course we will analyze classical religious texts, including: the New Testament prophecies of Jerusalem’s destruction; the narratives surrounding Saint Helen’s recovery of the true Cross and sacred relics; the traditions of Muhammad’s night journey to Jerusalem, and Muslim narratives on the conquest of Palestine and the construction of the Dome of the Rock.  In the second section of the course we will turn to the memories and visions of individual believers, such as the descriptions of medieval Muslim geographers, the travelogues of European Christian pilgrims, the diaries of Eastern Orthodox monks of the Palestinian desert, and the popular religious pamphlets and web sites of Muslim and Christian faithful today. 

All of our studies will be animated by our travels together in the Holy Land. We will have the opportunity to visit Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron on the West Bank, and the sacred Christian villages in the Galilee including Nazareth and Capernaum. Meanwhile we will encounter firsthand the religious life of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the land that all three communities still find holy today.

Ultimately, students will be challenged to develop a theological response to the place of the Holy Land in Christian tradition and to the competing claims of Muslim believers.

Costs for the course:
1. Summer Tuition
2. Travel (about $1,200 for a flight)
3. Room and board, including fees for field trips about $1,500