The world is our classroom and our mission field.
Since the earliest decades of Christian history, Christian pilgrimage involved both investigation of holy places to better understand the Bible. It also involved encounters with local residents of the land. The vast majority of Christian tourists to the Holy Land experience high volume, commercial tourism and not authentic pilgrimage. Consistent with our mission to make biblical study relevant to the world that we live in, all of our tours to the Holy Land and beyond give our travelers the opportunity to engage with local people and gain cross-cultural experiences. The Society for Biblical Studies develops tours and pilgrimages for spiritual growth and for biblical education.
For more than 23 years, The Society for Biblical Studies has been the leader in authentic Christian pilgrimage, pioneering distinctive, customized journeys that combine biblical investigation and engagement with people in contemporary settings. We invite you to travel with us to the Holy Lands of Israel and Palestine, as well as neighboring and historically relevant Jordan for pilgrimage, biblical learning, renewal and spiritual growth. Our resources for pilgrimage are second to none and with us you will avoid the traps of high volume commercial tourism, whether religious or secular. The Society for Biblical Studies also designs and leads pilgrimages to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Morocco, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Our unique and distinctive biblical tours will improve your understanding of the Bible and its application in the world. You will gain valuable insights and develop skills and material for preaching, Bible study and community building.
The Bible was written to be understood. If it seems obscure or confusing sometimes, it is because it was written specifically for people who were already familiar with the cultural values and conventions of their own world. This cannot be said about contemporary readers. Modern readers who want to understand the Word of God, first have to learn about the world of the Bible.
The Bible is a rich anthology of ancient literature including, for example, narratives, letters, legal codes, proverbial insights, poetry and other genres that have no modern parallels (apocalyptic). These writings were produced by a variety of writers and editors across a broad span of time in different regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. They have been used and even abused for millennia. In order to correctly derive meaning and insight from them and to prevent the texts from being used and applied in ways that the authors never intended, the modern reader first has to put the texts into their original, ancient contexts. There is no substitute for experiential learning in the lands of the Bible themselves.