Serrão: Travel opens doors to world, history

Dr. Jeanne Serrão, Professor of Biblical Literature, has hosted or cohosted 12 trips since 2007, guiding 450 people to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We posed a Q/A session with her to discuss the intent and outcome of the trips and the impact the Center for Global Engagement will have on future trips.

Why are academic international trips important for students (and guests)?

MVNU academic international trips are distinctive in the sense of their overall purpose. I designed these to expose students to the ancient and/or current cultures we are visiting and to attempt to understand and relate to the people we encounter. They are different from mission trips, because we go to listen, learn, and observe other peoples and cultures, not to bring our ideas of how we can help them. They are different from pilgrimages in that, while in the Bible lands we have the privilege of walking where Jesus, the apostles, and Old Testament personages lived. We are also there to learn the geography, the formation and function of ancient villages and cities and the cultural contexts of the Bible so that we can interpret and understand the Bible better.

While you can learn much in a campus class, travel and experience teach us what we could never learn in a classroom. Those who travel to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, carry those sights, smells, and physical orientations with them back home. When travelers read the Bible, they recall the locations they have visited, know what it feels like to be there and what surrounds the story location of the Bible. One student reported to me that after hearing her pastor preach about a location she had visited, she realized that he had never been there.

How do you decide the destination and itinerary?

I gather a small group of faculty whom I think could create classes that would benefit from a specific trip. At the beginning, I focused primarily on Bible lands and Bible classes. Our first trip was to Turkey and Greece in 2007 to trace the steps of Paul and early Christian missionaries. I soon realized that these trips also introduced our students and guests to the current cultures and to important Church history locations. Therefore, in subsequent trips, I invited church historians, a nurse who taught a nursing diversity class, literature professors, and we now have an ecology professor who is planning to join the next Israel-Egypt trip to expose his students to the diversity of environments of the Middle East.

The next trip was to Israel and Egypt in 2009 to visit the lands of the Old and New Testaments. We visited not only Joppa, Jerusalem, Galilee, Judea, and Caesarea Philippi that are referred to in the New Testament, but also Megiddo, the City of David, and Mount Carmel that are common places in the Old Testament. In Egypt, we visited the traditional site where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus lived when they fled Judea before the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:13ff). We also traveled through the ancient sites where the Israelites lived for 400 years before the Exodus.

After a return to Turkey and Greece in 2011, I collaborated with the art department in 2012 for a co-led trip. We added both a diversity class on the modern culture of Italy, and a Bible class on Romans, to study first century culture.

In 2017, we had the opportunity to journey to Germany and Switzerland to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We visited sites related to Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. We partnered with the Nazarene Theological Seminary on this trip.

This spring 2023, we expanded the traditional Italy trip to a joint Bible and art Greece-Italy tour, giving the art students the opportunity to see the original classical art in Greece before journeying to Italy to see the Renaissance art (a revival of classical art). At the same time, we introduced the students to the contemporary cultures of Greece and Italy as well as the locations where Paul and his co-workers went to preach the Gospel.

How many trips have you guided? Where?

Overall, I have hosted or co-hosted 12 trips and 450 people since 2007 to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Art professor, John Donnelly, and I planned the 2023 trip to Greece and Italy, and I’m exploring the possibility of a return to Israel and Egypt in spring 2024.

Can you share some memorable moments?

They are too many to mention, but highlights include camel rides, floating in the Dead Sea (the lowest point in the world), baptizing in the Jordan River, walking on the Temple Mount, praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, visiting the walled-off Palestinian city of Bethlehem, and the traditional location of the birth of Jesus. Taking communion in the theater in Ephesus where the silversmiths tried to have Paul arrested for preaching the gospel, as we are told in Acts 19:23-41. Entering the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Students whistling the Indiana Jones’ theme song while crawling into Egyptian tombs and pyramids. Standing where Martin Luther declared “Here I Stand!” and where reformer John Hus was burned at the stake.

How is the Center for Global Engagement assisting you with next trip?

The new Center for Global Engagement is a great addition to our university. It helps localize into one office all of the protocols and assists students with fundraising, as well as provides trip leader training and pre-departure orientation. This administrative support helps us focus on the dynamics of the trip.

Final thoughts regarding the experiences and lessons you have witnessed?

One of the travelers gave me a plaque that sums up how I feel about these trips: “Travel: The only thing you pay for that makes you richer.” My passion is to see students and guests come alive to the wonder and diversity of our big, beautiful world! When I see our trip participants catch the travel vision and launch out on their own, the hours of planning, advertising, and hosting these trips are completely worth it!

Want to know more about future trips?

mvnu.edu/undergraduate/academics/travel