Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 55

Hannah Swanson ’16

Above (from top), summer 2014: Wheaton in the Holy Lands students gather with
Dr. George Kalantzis and Dr. Lynn Cohick outside the Church of St. George, the seat
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; students hike up the steep sides of
Herodium, one of the palaces of Herod the Great, as well as his burial site; students
visit Dome of the Rock, a Muslim holy site located on Temple Mount, the site of the
Jerusalem Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.; students visit fourth-century
remains of a basilica in Philippi, the site of the first church in Europe.
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on, and then ask the students, ‘Now what
do we think of that?’”
One of the highlights for students
on the 2014 trip was a visit to an icon
workshop, where an Orthodox priest
talked about his work and how his
iconography is theology in visual form.
“Our students come back better
educated, with a better understanding
of the world of Christianity. They are
then able to articulate why they don’t
do what the other groups do. And they
have a better understanding of how very
complicated the current situation [in the
Middle East] is,” Dr. Cohick says.
Rachel Neftzer Snavely ’09 traveled
with the Wheaton in the Holy Lands
program in 2007. She says her experience
has influenced not only her understanding
of biblical cultures, but it has also given
her an appreciation for modern cultures
around the world.
“What I didn’t expect was to fall in love
with the modern cultures of the Holy
Lands,” she says. “It made me really value
travel and gave me a deeper understanding
of other world cultures. Since the trip, my
husband and I have prioritized travel in
order to better understand our world and
the people in it.
“In preparation for each trip, I read
about a dozen books to learn more about
the ancient and modern cultures of the
place we’re visiting—the history and
politics, the food and art, music and
religion, both the human suffering and the
strength of the human spirit in that place.”
Learn more about Wheaton in the Holy
Lands at wheaton.edu/theology.
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