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MISHAWAKA—Bethel University offers its students many opportunities to travel abroad and see the world, and each one is unique and amazing in its own way. But occasionally, a trip comes up that is especially distinctive, and several students are planning to embark on just such a trip this summer; from May 23 through June 9, they will be exploring several locations in Greece and Turkey.
Dr. David McCabe, associate professor of New Testament, will be co-leading the trip with Dr. Chad Meister, professor of philosophy.
“It started back in 2016 when I first did my first Israel trip,” said McCabe. “I knew from there I wanted eventually to do Greece and Turkey as well.”
McCabe visited Greece and Turkey once before on a survey trip, and he cannot wait to return.
“Throughout Greece and Turkey, you get the classical world,” said McCabe. “You can begin to see some of the material cultures that shaped things in the Bible.”
In preparation for the trip, McCabe is immersing himself in reading.
“I am studying galore,” said McCabe. “I’m reading both primary and secondary literature, I’m reading ancient fiction... I’m reading about the imperial cult, I’m reading about ancient arenas and amphitheaters and trying to understand how sports functioned, sports being races or even gladiatorial combat.”
McCabe is thrilled with the number of places that they will be able to visit. Some of the highlights of the trip will be Corinth, Ephesus, Istanbul and a ferry ride to the Isle of Patmos.
“It’s a longer trip than many we would do for a study trip,” said McCabe. “I was shocked that we got everything that we did get for our itinerary.”
McCabe hopes that Bethel will be able to do this trip again, but he believes that this trip will still be once in a lifetime.
“We’d like to do this again, maybe make it an every other year, something like that, offering,” said McCabe. “But I don’t know if we’re going to have an itinerary as rich and full as this one again.”
Alayna Wort, a junior double majoring in philosophy and biblical studies, is planning to go on the trip. She previously went on the Israel trip.
She said she is looking forward to making connections between the Old and New Testaments.
“I think it will make (the Bible) come to life more,” said Wort. “I can kind of know what the landscape was, so I think it will actually enhance my reading of Scripture.”
She is looking forward to the tourist side of trip as well.
“I’m just really excited to see all the different things in the museums, try the new foods, kind of experience what would life have been like for them back then kind of a thing,” said Wort. “What would they have been doing, are these the roads they would have been walking on, what would they have been experiencing?”
Wort believes that everyone should go on a trip if they have the opportunity. She said she finds the experiences of traveling to be helpful for her own personal growth.
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