You can sit at a desk and experience the head rush of answering a test question correctly.  Or... you can experience another kind of rush that comes with seeing and touching thousands of years of history at ancient sites like the Sphinx, Al Azhar Mosque, the Citadel, Old Cairo, Jerusalem or the street called "Straight" in Damascus.  Whether sitting with Bedouins for dinner, hearing the opinions of Israeli and Palestinian youth or bargaining in Cairo's Khan al Khalili souk, you realize that experiences like this embed life lessons in ways that mere book learning never can.  Are you ready to give it a try?

The Middle East Studies Program (MESP) seeks to prepare students to live the Christian life in a world that is religiously and culturally pluralistic, whether that's in the Middle East, North America or other parts of the world.  Students experience intense encounters with different worldviews while the MESP community offers a supportive environment.

Apply Now  !

Recent MESP Photos:

Above: Fadilat a Sheik Omar al Deeb, head of interfaith dialogue at Al Azhar University, takes questions from spring 2007 MESP students before Azharis from the Mission School and MESPers join in conversation.  Below: Hisham Yusef, Head of the Cabinet for the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Musa, poses with spring 2007 MESP students. Mr. Yusef, currently engaged in crisis management across the region—Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and Darfur— offered MESP students a candid view of US foreign policy in the region, and possible means forward. More recently, he was directly involved in efforts to solve Lebanon’s government crisis.

Above: Spring 2007 MESP students pose with cohorts from Al Azhar’s mission school. After listening to introductory remarks by Fadilat al Sheik Omar a Deeb, Al Azhar’s laison for interfaith dialogue, students engaged in their own personal interaction. Al Azhar is considered by some to be one of the preeminent institutions of Islamic learning in the world today. 

Right: Fall 2006 MESP and Al Azhar students in discussion.