Reading the Bible in High Definition: Kuyper Returns to Israel
Dan Kroeze, a professor of Biblical Studies at Kuyper, loves helping people experience Israel firsthand.
“All the names start to mean something more when you’re there in person,” Kroeze noted. “They’re not just words anymore. You really never read the Bible in the same way again.”
Kroeze recently returned from leading “Journey to the Land of the Text,” a much-loved learning experience that allows students and friends of the College to see God’s Word leap from the pages of Scripture as they follow in the footsteps of familiar biblical characters.
The idea for the trips was born while Kroeze was doing graduate work at Jerusalem University. When he came to Kuyper, he remembered the impact that studying Israel’s history and geography in person had on him.
“I thought, why shouldn’t Kuyper students have the chance to experience that too?” he recalled.
Ultimately, Kuyper created a college class that studies the Bible in its historical, cultural, and geographical contexts, both in the classroom and by traveling to the places where it was written.
“The first trip was such a success, we kept doing it. Except for 2020 and 2021, we’ve gone every year since 2008,” Kroeze said.
The adventure begins in January with bimonthly meetings for teaching and orientation. By May, participants are ready to spend nearly two weeks on the ground in Israel.
While there, they learn, grow and experience God in exciting and surprising ways.
Follow along in the coming weeks for inspiring firsthand accounts from some of the students who made the journey.
