Tag Archives: Roman history

Persisting in the footsteps – Ephesus and St Paul

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Paul preaching in the streets of Ephesus

A NEW BASE

Continuing on, for our last week following in the footsteps of St Paul, our group based in Kusadası, certainly one of the busiest tourist centers in all of Turkey.  Package tourism is the order of the day. Leviathans of the cruise ship industry lumber into port daily. Thousands are dumped onto the local scene for a wander about the town or a quick shore excursion.  Development has swamped Kusadası for better and/or worse. Our visits in search of St Paul here centered on trips to Ephesus and the ancient Greek cities of Priene, Miletus and the Temple of Apollo at Didyma. 

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Paul preaching in the streets of Ephesus

A NEW BASE

Continuing on, for our last week following in the footsteps of St Paul, our group based in Kusadası, certainly one of the busiest tourist centers in all of Turkey.  Package tourism is the order of the day. Leviathans of the cruise ship industry lumber into port daily. Thousands are dumped onto the local scene for a wander about the town or a quick shore excursion.  Development has swamped Kusadası for better and/or worse. Our visits in search of St Paul here centered on trips to Ephesus and the ancient Greek cities of Priene, Miletus and the Temple of Apollo at Didyma. 

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Following Footsteps of St Paul in south Turkey – Chapter one

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The theater at Saglassos with the city beyond high in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey

DISCOVERING PAUL

Following in the footsteps of St Paul brought us to Turkey. Christianity did not begin with Paul of Tarsus, but the movement got a huge jump start from his evangelizing journeys and the letters he wrote to various communities he had helped start.  Paul figures in more of the New Testament than almost Jesus, himself.  It was through Paul’s efforts the Way was expanded beyond the Jewish world, the original target for both John the Baptist and Jesus.  Paul allowed non-Jews – Gentiles – to join the party without fully following Jewish law – the crucible being circumcision.  By opening this door, the Way evolved into an entirely new religion – actually, a new family of religions – far different from the original stream Jesus or even Paul had drifted along.

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