Din ve medeniyet arasındaki sınırın aşılması: İslam ve Batı medeniyeti çalışmalarında akımlar ve örnekler

What may account for the nature of relation between "religion" and "civilization" and how this is reflected in the study of Islamic and Western civilizations? Standing on the shoulders of formative figures in the field of "Civilization Studies", I studied how, on the one hand, religion and civilization are positioned among the various theories of civilization, and on the other hand, how this debate is particularly framed in the study of Islamic and Western civilizations. Apart from generally reviewing literatures in the field, the study closely examined the works of Ibn Khaldun, Toynbee, Hodgson, Spengler, Guizot, Jaspers, Comte, Halim Paşa, Al-Faruqi, and Karakoç. This review of theories revealed there were three major trends subsuming typical characteristics, especially in the study of Islamic and Western civilizations. These were Historic-empirical, Religiophilosophical, and Multiplex. These trends differ from one another based on the methods or approaches adopted; the preponderances of certain themes or contents; and their particular focus in the study of Islamic and Western civilizations. Of these trends, it was only in the study of Islamic civilization all the three trends were present. Except the Multiplex trend, the remaining trends generally dominate the study of Western civilization. This absence of Multiplexity could be attributed to the tendency that theories under this trend theorized about civilization, particularly Islamic civilization, without necessarily being confined to the traditional disciplinary confinements, which is rather common in the study of Western civilization. The study concludes although the nature of relation between religion and civilization tend to show divergence in the study of these civilizations, religion remains as an indispensable element. Keywords: Civilization Studies; Historic-empirical; Islamic civilization; Multiplexity; Religiophilosophical; Trends; Western civilization.