End of Week One...

Yesterday I completed the first week of teaching at Teoloska Bibljiska Akademija (TBA) here in Krapina, Croatia. I am teaching two courses: The Geography of the Holy Land, and New Testament Survey I (The Gospels and Acts). It was exciting to see students exposed to how understanding the land of the Bible (the geography and topography) upon which God worked in history to accomplish His will and make Himself known as the God who is unlike the gods of the nations, impacts their own sudy of the Bible and personal walk with the Lord. This week we covered the major geographical locations, basic topography of the land, important routes of travel, the city of Jerusalem throughout the Biblical era and also the routes people used to approach Jerusalem, and also showed some pictures of Jerusalem's progress over the last century including modern views (taken this summer). I was able to use many of of the pictures I took this summer to illustrate and also exposed the students to the Pictoral Library of Bible Lands (produced by Todd Bolen, cf. BiblePlaces.com) which the school has in its library but which the students had never personally seen the wealth of its resource.

Here is a picture of the Geogrpahy of the Holy Land class (left to right: Elizabeta (married to Mario), Mario, Momir, Abel, Joshua, Marko, Daniel):

I also have the opportunity to teach the first year students a course on New Testament survey. We are currently using the gospel of Luke as a platform for a study of the life of Jesus Christ, which we will follow with the other gospel accounts and a study of the book of Acts (also including a focus on the life of the apostles and life and ministry of Paul). On Friday, I gave my students their first quiz. Here is a picture (left to right: Sasha, Trojko):

Personally, I am enjoying the time of study for the courses and time to read as well. Teaching the courses has also given me insight into the life of a professor including some of the challenges (for example, your voice is not the same after teaching for 5 hours as it was when you started).