The Bible and Anatolia

Christian faith is sometimes wrongly seen as a purely Western religion. Yet the geography of the Torah, Psalms and New Testament is deeply connected with the Middle East and Anatolia.

The teaching of the Bible is not foreign to these lands. God’s message of salvation speaks from this region to all humanity.

Anatolia in the Torah and Psalms

• The region of Eden associated with the Tigris and Euphrates.
• The mountains of Ararat where Noah’s ark came to rest.
• Harran and the Urfa region where Abraham and Jacob lived.
• The Hittites, their capital Hattusa and Carchemish.

Anatolia in the New Testament

• Cappadocia, Asia, Pontus, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Galatia, Cilicia, Bithynia, Mysia, Pisidia and Lycia.
• Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul.
• Antioch, where believers were first called Christians, and its port Seleucia.
• Perga, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Troas, Ephesus, Assos, Miletus, Patara, Myra and Cnidus, visited during Paul’s journeys.

Letters and the Seven Churches

The letters to the Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians are directly connected with communities in Anatolia.

All seven churches named in Revelation are within present-day Türkiye: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.