Department of history faculty of theology as a religious higher education institution in the early years of the Republic

Starting from homosaphiens to the current day, religion has always been an important in people's lives. According to general opinion, the motivation to believe appears in humans congenitally. This motivation and curiosity for researching the mystery has always driven people to some research and questioning. Hz. Muhammad (S.A.V.) also experienced such interrogations until he reaches the top point of them before he was informed of the prophethood. With the announcement of Islam, Islamic education began to take an important place in society. Scientific studies, which were carried out in a simple wayand, if we need to express correctly, with the simple method in those periods, took on a more institutional structure over time as conditions and places changed. Theseries of lessons that began with small groups in mosques during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.V.) transformedin to complex of buildings like madrasahs during the seljuk period and. The madrasah system, which maintained its effectiveness in education and training for a long period, failure in effectiveness in the transition from traditionalism to modernity in the face of serious advances in science by the West. Just as in most institutions in the Ottoman Empire, it was not possible to speak of the madrasah system as a structure as competent as it usedto be. In the 19th century, the education system also impressed by reform activism that started in every field. The attemption to integrate with the West, which started in military schools, spread to other educational institutions as time goes by. In the Ottoman Empire, where radical innovations were tried to be achieved with the Tanzimat and Reform Edicts, there were three attempts to establish Darülfünun until 1900, but for different reasons, these Darülfünûns could not last long. In terms of our topic, the common feature of these three Darülfünun was that they did not have a faculty in the context of religious education. The main reason for this was the belief that the madrasah made up for the deficiency in this field and there was no need for a different institution. In 1900, Darülfünûn-ı Şahane, which lasted longer than the previous ones, was established and this time, a Faculty of Theology started its work forhigher religious education. Higher religious education, which could remain within the university for approximately 14 years, came back to the extent of madrasah between 1914 and 1924 with the madrasah's innovation moves in this field. It would be more correct way to see the process, which seems like a mutual conflict between the Faculty of Theology and the Madrasa as two elements that feed each other and complete the missing points rather than competition. With the Tevhid-i Tedrisat Law published on March 3, 1924, education was completely reorganized. During this change and transformation process, madrasahs were closed and higherreligious education was reintegrated into the extent of the university. However, while this return was quite efficient in the first years in terms of both the number of students and the intensity of the curriculum, it has evolved correctly, especially in terms of student numbers, due to severe weather conditions. The most important reason for this can be considered as the fact that Imam Hatip School graduates are not taken into account for acceptable failures at the secondary school level, and regularhigh school graduates do not give importance to the faculties in a very pleasant way. The political understanding at that times saw the social sciences, especially the Faculty of Theology, which carried out academic studies within the university, as a burden on the country. This can be clearly seen both in the minutes of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and in the newspapers of the period. From this perspective, it could not be expected that the life of the faculty would be very long. The Faculty of Theology, which continued its educational life for approximately 9 years starting from 1924, could not find a place for itself in Istanbul University, which was abolished and replaced by Istanbul Darülfünûnu in 1933. In the newly established university, the Institute of Islamic Studies was established instead of the Faculty of Theology, but since the institute did not accept students like normal faculties, higher religious education entered a period of approximately 16 years of interregnum until 1949. Key Words: Theology, Religion, Education, Faculty