Students Study Abroad on Holy Land Pilgrimage

Posted in Religion, Study Abroad on May 15, 2012

Twenty Belmont University students and two professors left Nashville May 8 for a 19-day journey to Israel, Turkey and Greece, traveling to numerous sites along the way including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Istanbul and Athens. Students on this study abroad trip are taking either a Third Year Writing course or a general education religion class with the goal to see the lands in which Christianity was born.  

As School of Religion Dean Darrell Gwaltney writes, the trip is part pilgrimage as well. “It is moving to travel to Jerusalem and other places many of us have been reading about and learning about all our lives. One of the great benefits from such a trip like this is that we are forever changed. The people we meet and the people with whom we travel change us.”

Student Carter Abel recounted an experience from the first day of the trip: “I was about to fall asleep when we drove over the top of a moutain and before me lay the most magnificent sight I have ever seen–the Sea of Galilee. Spanning out before me, the incredible blue waters stood out like gemstone surrounded by bare mountains. I sat in absolute awe and wonder as I laid my eyes upon the place where Jesus walked on water, calmed the storm, fed thousands of people with a single basket of food and performed miracles. No matter how much cities and nations have changed over two thousand years, the Sea of Galilee remains a living altar of the power, compassion and love of God who walked its shores.”

Click here to read more from the Holy Land trip blog.


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Ranked No. 7 in the Regional Universities South category and named for the fifth consecutive year as one of the top “Up-and-Comer” universities by U.S. News & World Report, Belmont University consists of approximately 6,650 students who come from every state and 25 countries. Committed to being a leader among teaching universities, Belmont brings together the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service. The university’s purpose is to help students explore their passions and develop their talents to meet the world’s needs, a fact made evident in the University’s hometown, Nashville, where students served more than 60,000 hours of community service (valued at $450,000) during the last academic year. Belmont is also home to the World Cup champion Enactus team, a group of 42 student leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world. With more than 80 areas of study, 23 master’s programs and five doctoral degrees, there is no limit to the ways Belmont University can expand an individual's horizon. For more information visit www.belmont.edu