"Sure!"
Even more remarkable than this invitation was that the very next week I received an unexpected gift from my congregation back home that covered the cost of this trip - and I hadn't even told anyone about it.
The Rev. Dr. Herbert Hoefer teaches World Religions and Theology at Concordia University, Portland. He'd hoped to offer this immersion experience as a course, but didn't draw much interest. But here in Germany, Brent, myself, Ryan (the other seminary exchange student here with me) and Rachel, who also works here in Oberursel, we had enough to make the trip worthwhile. Dr. Hoefer arrived in Oberursel on Tuesday, which allowed us to get together on Wednesday and Thursday to get to know each other and get a few introductory seminars on Islam. (Dr. Hoefer had done some traveling in the Middle East last fall to take care of some of the groundwork and networking for this trip.)
We met at 5:15 Friday morning and headed to the Frankfurt airport, where we caught a 7:25 flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airways.
[The first stop was Marmara University, where we received a series of presentations on Islam from their theological faculty.]
[That evening we checked into our hotel. This is the view from our room. You can see across the Bosphorus Strait over to the European side, with the "Blue Mosque" (six minarets) on the left and the Hagia Sophia (four minarets) on the right. Right below our hotel was the ferry landing and a container yard.]
[We dropped off our bags and went down poolside to meet with our guide, Aydin, and his Imam (known for his perfect memorization of the Koran). We were able to ask some more candid questions and gained some unique insights into the religion that claims 1.2 billion followers, globally.]
[The Harem Otel. So-named for the neighborhood, not what you think.]
[Sunset on the Maramar Sea. You can see the silhouette of the ferry in the foreground and the Galata Tower in the background.]
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