Last week I had the privilege of being the guest lecturer for the class Using Media Technology in Ministry in the school of theology for Fuller Theological Seminary. I really enjoyed teaching and we spent the two and half hours talking about the use of blogging and social networking in ministry. I’m not super high-tech (obviously), so we mainly talked about the theory and practice of it. But I’m not here to talk about that, rather I’m here to tell you what I was able to take part in today because I taught the class last week.
Today I was invited to go with the class to visit UCLA’s Visualization Portal as we were walked through the Second Temple. It was unbelievable……that’s all I can say.
Bel Air Presbyterian attender and UCLA Chair for the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Bill Schniedewind was our host, as he walked us through the Second Temple. In just that short time the Bible was brought to life for me in ways that I could not have imagined. I have been to Israel, Syria and Jordan before, but even being there in person didn’t compare to walking through the Second Temple in practical “virtual reality.” Dr. Schniedewind also walked us through Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls which was also very, very fascinating.
What an amazing teaching tool they have there at UCLA! I hope I can check it out again some other time.
