Sociology of Religious Literacy from Traditional to Modern: The Case of Popular Religious Books

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to understand what kind of religious understanding is developing at the popular level by focusing on the book sources that large masses are fed in terms of religious knowledge. In this understanding activity, it is focused on what kind of religious knowledge is circulating in large strata of society. In the research carried out for this purpose, data were collected through in-depth interview technique with the bookstores of Ankara Hacı Bayram Çarşısı and İstanbul Yümni Passage, which are accepted as the dissemination channel of religious knowledge in Turkey and where religious bookselling has been going on for many years, within the framework of the qualitative research method. In this methodological preference, it has been considered meaningful to reach a cross-section of social reality, to consult the opinions of booksellers who have been dealing with the literacy skills of the society for many years by making religious bookstores. The data obtained were handled with descriptive analysis and presented as thematic categories. In this context, the literacy of large segments of society and its relationship with the religious book have been tried to be revealed. Popular forms of religiosity demand certain epistemological sources of knowledge and incorporate them into their religious reality. In this sense, the wide demand of the society included mystical and epic narratives and basic religious knowledge books with worship and prayer for many years. As the literacy level of the society increased, there was a differentiation in the demands for traditional forms of religious knowledge, and this differentiation caused the content and form of religious books to change. In this context, religious books containing both traditional, modern and postmodern forms and discourses continue to attract wide attention. While the interest in classical religious books has decreased in recent years, new genres that transcend traditional religious understandings tend to become widespread throughout the country, as popular culture expands its sphere of influence through different channels. This draws attention as the popularization of religious knowledge and its reproduction at the discursive level.