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June 17, 2010 - From
Dr. Paul Wright
I see that it is high time that I send
a note of greetings from Mount Zion and fill you in on some of the
happenings in and around Jerusalem University College over the last
three months.
Let me start with
a quick statement about safety and security. It seems as
though with the events of the Gaza Flotilla a couple of weeks ago
and fallout from it (including the usual loud posturing by everyone
in the press), that Israel is again in the news. I want to ensure
the JUC community, and especially our incoming students and your
friends and families, that the “on the ground” reality is calm,
quiet and quite safe. We of course continue to monitor all
conditions carefully, and have made no changes to field trip
itineraries or other program plans for our current summer programs.
All of our courses, plans, routes and activities are “tried and
true,” and designed not only to provide wonderfully complete
experiences in Israel and selected places in the West Bank, but
experiences that are safe and secure throughout. We look forward to
a strong and productive fall semester, and are glad that many of you
will be a part.
I want to offer
a special note on behalf of Dr. Anson Rainey. Anson was
honored at an academic conference held at Bar Ilan University on May
6 titled “And They Went Up and Toured the Land: A Conference in
Honor of Professor Anson F. Rainey on the Occasion of his 80th
Birthday.” Because of our long association with Anson (his first
teaching position in Israel was actually with us, back in 1962, and
he has taught Historical Geography for us ever since), I was asked
to make a presentation on his and JUC’s contribution to Christian
scholars in the field. Anson has been instrumental in forging strong
and credible relationships between the academic communities of the
State of Israel on the one hand, and Protestant Christians in North
America on the other—especially those who understand the importance
of grounding the message of the biblical text in its tangible,
landed and historical contexts. For this reason, I used the
opportunity say something about the special role that historical
geography plays in biblical (and other) studies. Here are five
thoughts:
-
Historical geography is a field that at its core crosses
disciplines. Words like “synthesis” and “collaboration” are
not only at home here, but integral to what we do. Our subject
matter is as broad and complicated as people and their
interaction with the land on which they live, and is as relevant
as is real life. And it’s a field that attracts specialists who
know how to work broadly, and with an eye toward real life. For
this reason it is a good discipline around which to build a
curriculum, as we have done at JUC.
-
Historical geography is a field that is interested in the
experience of people on their homeland—and what better story
is there to know and to tell than that of ancient Israel in the
land of the Bible. The biblical story is a story that transcends
ethnicity and place, certainly, but one that is also grounded in
both. The fact of its particularism doesn’t make it peculiar,
but rather able to speak to the particularism of us all.
-
Historical geography is a field that knows how to take the past
and the present seriously. In the lands of the Bible, at
least, the past remains the present, and our attempts to
interact with the modern Middle East are necessarily improved by
our understanding of its past.
- Perhaps
because it is so holistic, historical geography is a field
that speaks to both scholars and generalists. Delving into
its riches, reading texts and exploring the grounded landscapes
about which the texts speak and on which their characters and
audiences lived, prompts generalists to want to know more about
the facets of the biblical story that they didn’t even know were
there, and specialists to ask and answer questions that speak to
everyone.
- Finally,
historical geography is a field that is attractive to everyone
who takes the biblical text seriously, be they Christians or
Jews. Because the Bible is a book that shapes our core identity,
historical geography is a natural area of interest for us and
for our institutions, be they Jerusalem University College (and
its Consortium of Associated Schools), or Bar Ilan University,
Anson’s current academic home in the Israeli University System.
For this reason, it is a fertile meeting ground for people of
many faiths, or for a great many kinds of people within a
certain faith tradition. One can even speak of historical
geography as a bridge—a Sacred Bridge (to take the title of
Anson’s latest monograph)—between faith communities, between
academic disciplines, and between scholars, clergy and the
laity.
JUC remains
the flagship school for the evangelical world in the endeavor to
join the Bible with its landed context.
We were pleased
to have hosted the JUC board of directors on our Mount Zion
campus for its annual spring meeting in April. As is typical
when its meetings are in Jerusalem, members of the board were able
to meet a number of persons in the community who support the vision
and ministry of JUC. They were also able to participate in portions
of our April short-term program. Two participants in that program
planted fruit trees in the JUC garden in memory of loved ones.
Teresa Marks of Chicago planted a lemon tree in memory of her son,
Peter Marks, who died within the past year at the age of 32 (two
years ago Teresa planted an orange tree in the JUC garden in memory
of her late husband, the Rev. John Marks). The other planting, a
plum tree, was done by members of Lakewood United Methodist Church
of Houston, TX, who were attending our April Pastor-Parishioner
study program. This tree is in memory of Rev. Rusty Watkins, their
assistant pastor. Rusty was planning to attend our April
Pastor-Parishioner study tour but died suddenly a few weeks before,
on Easter Sunday.
In May I was
pleasantly surprised to be contacted by the family of Tadeus
Pfeifer of Switzerland, the great-great-great-grandson of Samuel
Gobat (1799-1879), second Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem. Mr.
Pfeifer, who is in the last stages of his life, is the heir of
certain personal objects of Bishop Gobat and, with the approval
of his closest companions and family members, has given these
objects to JUC. I would like to thank Dr. Michael Pfeifer, the
brother of Tadeus, Ms. Pamela Hardiment, Tadeus’ closest friend, and
Ms. Renate Schrenk, Cultural Attaché of the Swiss Embassy in Tel
Aviv, for assisting Tadeus’s wishes and transferring permanent
ownership of these items to Jerusalem University College. The
objects are three:
- Bishop
Gobat’s dagger with an elephant-ivory handle, which he acquired
when holding an earlier position in Abyssinia.
- The bishop’s
brass scribe’s case
- A portrait
of the bishop and another of his wife, taken sometime in the
1870’s. Mrs. Gobat’s portrait is tinted in several colors, while
his is black-and-white. A quick internet search suggests to me
that this is the official portrait of the bishop, and that other
likenesses of him were copied from this.
Other personal
objects of the bishop have been promised. The next step: to create a
formal display in honor and memory of Bishop Gobat in a prominent
place on campus.
Samuel Gobat
served as Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem from 1846-1879. Among his
many accomplishments, the bishop arranged to purchase land on Mount
Zion for use as a Protestant cemetery and school. The buildings of
that school are now the campus of Jerusalem University College (many
local residents of Jerusalem still refer to them as “the Gobat
School”). It is a fitting place for personal objects of the bishop
to reside.
Speaking of our
campus, I have reached an agreement with the Anglican Church, owners
of the buildings and grounds, to extend our lease for 20 years
(until the end of 2029). The terms of the lease, which include
the right to extend the agreement for additional lengthy periods,
are fair and reasonable for both parties. We are now secure on Mount
Zion for 63 years and counting,
We were happy to
welcome George and Joan Giacumakis to campus on June 10.
George was JUC’s second president (1978-1984), and he and Joan have
been hosting study tours to Israel for many years. Following a long
career in administration and teaching at Cal State Fullerton, George
is now founding Director of the Museum of Biblical and Sacred
Writings in Irvine, CA. The purpose of his new work is to
provide a public museum, a research center for scholars, and an
educational facility for students to pursue the study of ancient
historical texts, archaeological artifacts, and ancient writings.
The museum hopes to sponsor archaeological excavations and lecture
series on relevant topics. For information about the Museum of
Biblical and Sacred Writings, please see
www.sacredwritings.org
Campus security
was improved this spring with the gift of a camera system
that provides 24-hour color images of four points at our gate and
along the exterior of our grounds.
Well, another tug
and pull with Israeli bureaucracy. Since October we have been “on
hold” in our attempts to connect the campus with the municipal sewer
system. Work begun 8 months ago (including tearing up our parking
space) has put us in a crunch, without much relief in the meantime.
Things are at least finally becoming more clear—the hold-up stopping
the work from being completed (and preventing our sewer and parking
facilities from being restored) is that the sewer line would cross
the line of the Herodian aqueduct that circles Mount Zion just below
campus. So how about that! A modern pipe crossing an ancient pipe,
and past touches present again. This time “historical geography” is
more than just a discipline! Well, the problem been sent to the
engineers for solution, and we all hope that they are as efficient
and creative as Jerusalem needs them to be—not as the Middle East
usually is.
I would be remiss
if I did not mention the wonderful work of Anna Dintaman and David
Landis (David is one of our short term alumni) in publishing
“Hiking the Jesus Trail and Other Biblical Walks in the Galilee.”
This is the first guidebook for the Jesus Trail, a 65-km path
connecting sites from the life of Jesus in the Galilee. In the two
years since the trail was launched (through the tireless and
creative work of David Landis and Maoz Inon, founder of the
beautiful Fauzi Azar Inn in Old Nazareth), thousands of hikers
(including JUC students) have trekked a portion or all of the marked
trek. The Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel has
incorporated the Jesus Trail into their system of trail markers (a
massive accomplishment in just two years!), and full GPS coordinates
are available. The guide book is attractive, comprehensive,
beautiful and quite helpful for everyone interested in the trail,
Galilee or the life and times of Jesus. Information can be found at
www.jesustrail.com.
This last week
Jerusalem has been celebrating the second annual Jerusalem
Festival of Light, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism,
the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Jerusalem Municipality, the
Prime Minister’s Office and the Ariel Municipal Company. Walks in
and around the Old City are lit with colorful, creative and fun
displays of light. I am including some pictures that hopefully give
a sense of the place. A festive atmosphere swirls around the
Armenian, Christian and Jewish Quarters of the Old City (though for
us, it also means that all vehicle access to campus is totally cut
off for several hours every evening and night). Students arriving
for our June programs had to wheel their bags right through the
middle of the carnival to get to campus. It was a strange but
welcome first “hello” to the city.
I must also
note with sadness the passing of Dr. Hanan Eshel, who was
adjunct instructor in Biblical History at Jerusalem University
College in the 1990’s. Hanan was former head and current faculty
member of the Martin Szusz Department of Land of Israel Studies and
Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, and had just
completed three field guides on Qumran, Masada and En Gedi (www.carta.co.il).
Everyone who knew Hanan personally speaks of his courage and
honesty, in scholarship and in his personal life. Hanan died after a
heroic battle with cancer at the age of 52.
We are doing
well in terms of enrollment and finances. Everything in the
budget is on the plus-side of the equation. This week we received
final confirmation of a gift of $65,000 from the Marion Piggot
Estate which will go directly into our scholarship fund. Spring
and Fall enrollments are remaining steady at around 75 total
students. Enrollment in our summer programs (May-July) will be 360
students. Our summer instructors are a familiar and welcome
group: Steve Lancaster, Elaine and Perry Phillips, Brian Schultz,
Aubrey Alexander, Carl Rasmussen, Bob Mullins, Jack Beck and Paul
Wright. So are the schools of the JUC consortium that have sent
groups to us this summer: Asbury Theological Seminary, Denver
Seminary, Wesley Theological Seminary, Western Seminary, Azusa
Pacific University, Columbia International University, Cornerstone
University, Crown College, Fresno Pacific University, Gordon
College, Indiana Wesleyan University, Malone College and Wheaton
College. Of course one does not need to be enrolled in one of the
schools of the JUC consortium to attend JUC programs! Every year a
large number of our students come to us independently, or who are
enrolled at schools other than those of our consortium.
It is always
appropriate at the end of the academic year to mention by name
those who have finished, or are on track to shortly finish, the JUC
MA degree. Those who have already finished this spring are
Aubrey Alexander, Vernon Alexander, Shantra Bolek, Jack Foran,
Joanna Henzel, Autumn Landram, Anna Phillips and Cameron Simon.
Those who should finish by the end of the summer include Alana
Amunrud, Ada Ezeokoli, Ian Garrett, Nathan Gibson, Abby Hereford,
Tim Hereford, Brian Hodgkins, Adria Lambert and Tom Meyer. That’s
quite a few! This list is clear testimony to the academic vigor of
our MA programs. Congratulations to all!
With blessings, and thanks,
Dr. Paul Wright
Director, JUC |
