An Overview of Christianity and the Kurdish Language

Christianity has a long, albeit limited, history among the Kurdish people, dating back to the early centuries of the Christian era when missionaries, including Nestorian and Syriac Orthodox Christians, brought the faith to the region. The area historically inhabited by Kurds, spanning parts of modern-day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, was home to various Christian communities, such as Assyrians and Armenians, who had established early Christian churches. While some Kurds adopted Christianity, most of the population remained aligned with Zoroastrianism until the spread of Islam in the 7th century, after which the majority of Kurds became Muslim, particularly adhering to Sunni Islam.

Modern efforts to reach Kurds with Christian teachings gained traction in the 19th and 20th centuries through missionary initiatives from Western churches, who translated portions of the Bible into Kurdish dialects such as Kurmanji and Sorani to make Christian texts accessible. Although Christians among the Kurdish population are few, the availability of Christian literature in Kurdish has helped facilitate a small but persistent interest in the faith. Today, Kurdish-speaking Christian communities exist in diaspora and some Kurdish-majority areas, with Kurdish translations of the New Testament and other Christian resources supporting faith practice. However, due to cultural and political factors, Christianity remains a minor influence within the Kurdish community.