Comparison of religious development models in the west and in Turkey in terms of theory and methods

This study examines the theories of religious development introduced in the West and in Islamic geography, and particularly in Turkey in terms of theory and methodology. The progress of the religious development theories in the West under the influence of Jewish-Christian culture with the adoption of a positivist understanding conduces the belief-culture reality of other geographies to be ignored. Whether or not universal principles of religious development can be referred to in terms of age and periods and the influence of socio-cultural structures on religious development constitute the main problems of the research. Literature review method was used in our study and the obtained data were interpreted. Was found that the western approaches are predominantly cognitive-based. Theories of life-long religious development grounded on psychoanalytic, social-cognitive and moral development in the West also play an important role. Religious developments in the West have a phasic, universal and normative structure. On the contrary, it is seen that the Sufi approach with a traditional understanding in the Islamic geography addresses the individual's development ideographically with its own methods. Additionally, even though Islamic scholars did not adopt an approach that systematically explains religious development, they attached a particular importance to the development of reason in fulfilling their religious responsibilities. Studies examining particular age period on religious development in recent years in Turkey and model experiments provide information about the Turkish-Islamic culture-specific notions and human upbringing. Model trial studies in the cultural context conducted in the Turkish-Islamic geography have an eclectic character and are at the level of a summary of theories originating from the west. Although the theories of religious development in the West reveal the universal dimension of development, they can not explain what is cultural and local. Nevertheless, the understanding that knowledge varies by date and place requires addressing local and universal understandings together. Keywords: Theories of Religious development, Jewish-Christian culture, Turkish-Islamic culture, positivist understanding, local-cultural belief