Contemporary Turkish academic approach to Christian missionary activity

Christian missionary activity is one of the most prominent issues in contemporary Turkish academia, especially in the field of the History of Religions. Two major approaches to Christian missionary activity attract attention: The first one claims that Islamic da'wah is completely different from Christian missionary activity; the second one claims that these two activities are similar. The first one expresses the general viewpoint of contemporary Turkish academia. Christian missionary activity in Turkish academia, in general, is considered as a political, imperialistic and malevolent activity far from religious purposes. Islamic da'wah, on the other hand, is an activity with mere religious purpose and is viewed as a duty. The reason for such an approach is related to the historical and geographical background of Turkey. As a matter of fact, Christian missionary activities were run at a high rate with the political motivations of various Western countries. Today, with the influence of these factors, there is prejudice against Christian missionary activities. Such prejudice leads to ignoring some similar characteristics of both activities and therefore they are viewed as totally dissimilar activities. The main purpose of this study is displaying main perceptions held by Turkish academia towards Christian missionary activity and Islamic da'wah. Meanwhile, it is also the purpose of our study to determine the similarities and differences between the two activities. In this context, we also intend to situate viewpoints of Turkish academicians in both religious traditions and reveal the reasons for such existing prejudices. We have employed the method of literature review in our study. In the first part, the current viewpoints of today's Turkish academicians on Christian missionary activity has been investigated. We have reviewed books, articles, etc. authored by academicians who work in the field of the History of Religions. The second part of the thesis deals with Christian missionary activity in respect to Christian tradition and its basic sources. The third part investigates Islamic da'wah in respect to Islamic tradition and its basic sources. In addition to the History of Religions we have consulted various other disciplines.