Encountering "the Other"

The demographic for this fall semester at Tantur Ecumenical Institute is unusually weighted toward the host Roman Catholics (23 RC’s and two Protestants). The other Protestant is Anglican, a tradition more Catholic than Baptist. (I have told these folks they...

Climbing Mt. Masada

Shalom from Mt. Masada! Filing away another item on the bucket list, I climbed Mt. Masada alone, via the ancient “Snake Path” yesterday. The rest of our group took the modern tramway that the Israelis installed a few years ago, while I set out alone on the...

The wrestling match isn't over.

Next week I plan to join the Continuing Education group as they journey into the region known as the Northern West Bank. This is a Palestinian “Area A” (meaning it is off-limits to Israelis), so tourists and pilgrimage groups only occasionally go there....

Appreciation and Caution

After appreciating Sunday morning visits to churches of traditions very different from yours and mine, I returned last Sunday to a favorite haunt from 2005, St. Andrews Scots Memorial Church. This Scottish Presbyterian church, standing directly across the Ben Hinnom...

Only Jesus

During a recent week I joined our sabbatical group on a five-day “run where Jesus walked” tour of the Galilee region. Since I had been there several times before, one of the priests in our entourage challenged me with the question: “Did you learn...

What makes a place compelling?

On a very-first visit to the Palestinian city of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, our most-celebrated stop was Jacob’s Well, located near the ancient Tel Balata, or Shechem (“Sychar” in John). Here is an extraordinary site, in that it has been...