September 10, 2024
KANSAS CITY, Mo—Eighteen students and faculty from Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College participated in a study tour throughout the United Kingdom earlier this summer with students and faculty from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Through innovative joint study tracks in biblical studies and Church history, students examined early New Testament manuscripts at the British Library and Oxford and visited significant locations in Protestant history, engaging the tradition and trustworthiness of biblical faith.
“Study tours are an amazing way to pair knowledge with intense discipleship and historical site seeing,” said Midwestern President Jason Allen. “I am always encouraged to hear about what our students learned and what they saw on these trips. I’m praying that the Lord will use this trip to further equip and minister to all those who attended and that it will bless His Church in the years to come.”
The study tour represented a decade-long partnership between Midwestern Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to lead students on educational tours of Protestant and Baptist history in England and Scotland.
A new feature this year was the biblical studies track, led by Todd Chipman, associate professor of biblical studies at Midwestern Seminary. Students in the biblical studies track earned course credit for Hermeneutics through the study tour, learning text criticism as they examined some of the earliest extant copies of books including John, Acts, and Romans on papyri.
Explaining the significance of studying text criticism with the papyri in these libraries, Chipman said, “The papyri are the earliest New Testament documents we have. Very rarely are they complete; they’re often fragmentary. These papyri are used by the editors of Greek translations of the New Testament to adjudicate what the original text is as best as we can tell.”
Chipman gave an example of text criticism the students performed with manuscript P13, a third-century papyrus containing parts of Hebrews. Studying the Greek text on the papyrus, Chipman translated Hebrews 2:14, summarizing, “This is Jesus coming to destroy the one having the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who were held all their lives by fear.”
Reflecting on his experience learning text criticism on the tour, Logan Britton, a Master of Divinity student at Midwestern Seminary, said, “Working with the biblical papyri was perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the trip. Each scrap of text was a physical demonstration of God’s providential care and everlasting faithfulness regarding His Word and His people. He did not leave Himself without a witness throughout the ages.”
Besides examining manuscripts, the study tour also visited historical sites and experienced the cultures of modern England and Scotland. Over twelve days, they traveled to London, Oxford, Moulton, Bedford, and Olney in England, and to Edinburgh and St. Andrews in Scotland. Locations included Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, the Moulton church where William Carey’s conviction for missions emerged, and numerous locations where faithful Protestants were martyred during the English and Scottish Reformations.
Noting the prevalence of Christian martyrdom as a theme in the Church history track, Chipman said, “The biblical studies sites were only two of the locations on the trip. Every other place is a trail of blood.”
He related the story of Broad Street in Oxford, which the tour visited. On the street is a cross marking the location where Protestant martyrs Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley were burned alive in 1555 and 1556.
Chipman reflected, “The two tracks went together beautifully. We have in the New Testament manuscripts an objective reason to trust God’s Word. In the Church history sites, we have a subjective, compelling reason to be courageous.”
Underscoring the connection between the biblical studies and Church history tracks, Chipman referenced P13. “The content of this particular papyrus document is that Jesus came to destroy death. All these martyrs believed it,” Chipman said. “They believed that Jesus really did defeat the devil, that he was the one who had the power of death, and they were ready to go.”
Reflecting on his hopes for students to be equipped for ministry through the study tour, Chipman said, “I hope they take the words of God’s Word very seriously and have a great sense of conviction about the stability of the Bible. We have every reason to trust the Bible, and we have every reason to be courageous about our faith. That’s the trajectory of the Christian faith and the stream of Christian tradition we stand in.”
Britton echoed Chipman’s reflections from his experience, saying, “The study tour brought textual criticism and Church history to life for me, and it bolstered my confidence in God’s ongoing work with His people. The study tour reminded me that God continues to be faithful to His people, even in the darkest and most oppressive times. It encouraged me in my aspirations to pastor faithfully and to raise well-educated disciples.”
