Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASIA MINOR

A term used to describe the Anatolian peninsula bounded by the Black Sea on the north, the Aegean Sea on the west, and the Mediterranean Sea on the south. This region of ca. 518,000 sq. km. (200,000 sq. mi.) — three quarters the size of Texas — today constitutes the western two thirds of Asiatic Turkey. The central part of the peninsula consists of a high arid plateau (ca. 1219 m. [4000 ft.] above sea level) surrounded by mountains, most notably the Pontic range in the north and the Taurus Mountains along the Mediterranean coast.

During the OT period, Asia Minor’s strategic location as a land bridge between Mesopotamia and Europe created the circumstances that allowed the Hittite culture to flourish. However, this geographic position also made it the battlefield between colliding cultures as seen in the Trojan War, the Persian War, and the conflicts between Alexander’s successors.

Asia Minor’s major biblical significance, however, lies in its important role in the spread of Christianity in the NT. The Apostle Paul was born in Tarsus in southeastern Asia Minor, and much of his evangelistic work was focused on the peninsula. On Paul’s third missionary journey he invested three years in Ephesus, making it the hub of his entire mission. Timothy also worked with the Ephesian church (1 Tim. 1:3) between Paul’s Roman imprisonments, and John may have lived there after the destruction of Jerusalem. Asia Minor continued to be a dominant arena for Christian labor after the apostolic period, as is evident by the four ecumenical councils held at Nicea (I and II), Ephesus, and Chalcedon.

Bibliography. E. Akurgal, Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey, 8th ed. (Istanbul, 1993); E. C. Blake and A. G. Edmonds, Biblical Sites in Turkey, 4th ed. (Istanbul, 1990).

Jesse Curtis Pope

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASIA MINOR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)