Students Don New “Lenses” for Interterm in Madrid
Published: April 13, 2021
As many students of GUs Israel Interterm trip have learned, reading the Bible in a new geographic location lends fresh insight to familiar scriptures.
GU Andrews Chair in Christian Unity Ben Waymanhopes students of his Interterm class Interpreting the City: Reading the New Testament in Spain will learn the same lesson.
This Interterm course takes students to Madrid, Spain, for an intensive reading of Scripture outside their familiar context. Students will read Scripture with Spanish eyes in order to better grasp the role cultural perspective plays in understanding God and the world.
Wayman will co-teach the class with Rev. Dr. Jos Hernndez, community liaison for the Mosaic Cultural Center in Rivas Vaciamadrid, a Madrid suburb. Hernandez regularly partners with GUs Experience Spain Study Abroad program, which sends students to Madrid for a semester of study.
Were excited for our students to explore and engage Scripture and the Christian faith in Madrid, Wayman says.
A New Testament Lens on Self and Others
Wayman and Hernndez will use the backdrop of modern Madrid to help students study 21st century urban culture, including media, social services, education, business, social and political influences, and more, all through a New Testament lens. They hope to help students think theologically and multiculturally about the modern world, and about the challenges and opportunities of ministry in an urban context.
Students learn about their own cultureand thus, themselvesby immersing themselves in an unfamiliar setting. Classwork requires them to compare their own cultural, social, religious, and racial background to that of Madrid, in order to draw attention to their own assumptions, biases, and perspectives. But even more, Wayman says, by reading Scripture alongside our Spanish sisters and brothers, we learn more about God and Gods creative action to restore our world as we see God at work in different cultures, peoples, and places.
Wayman hopes this course will inspire students to explore and celebrate the diverse body of Christ, from the city of Madrid to the ends of the earth.
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