CLEARLY a labour of love and born of a passion for recording and celebrating women who have lived the Christian life in Asia Minor and what is now Turkey over two millennia, Rosamund Wilkinson’s information-crammed book is absorbing and just a little frustrating. More than 50 women are showcased, from Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16) to Sister Meryem NDS (born Zübeyde Ismet Faik Topuz, Istanbul, 1901, died near Marseilles, 1991). Her title allows for treatment of foreign Christian women who came to Asia Minor and Turkey, such as Florence Nightingale, and those like Sister Meryem who left it, as well as the many who were born and died within its vast geography. Movingly, Wilkinson tells the story of Araxie Jebejian, a 30-year-old Armenian “Bible woman” and teacher trained in Birmingham who was murdered in the Armenian Genocide of 1916. Christian Women in Turkey — A history: A survey of notable Christian women in Asia Minor and Anatolia from 33CE to 2021Rosamund WilkinsonEgeria Press £19.99(978-1-3999-0464-3)Church Times Bookshop £17.99

Source: The Times July 24, 2025 23:15 UTC