TURKISH STUDENTS' SPIRITUALITY TODAY

Abstract

Spirituality is a universal phenomenon; however, its conceptualization can differ from one culture to another. The meaning of the concept has been changing since the last couple of decades. Even though it has been previously regarded as a religious concept in terms of institutional organized religion, its meaning has altered over time initially towards personal spirituality based on religion, and then, towards spirituality totally untethered from religion in which popular interest is growing. This shift in its meaning attracted the attention of researchers, and therefore, it has become a topic of concern in academia. Nevertheless, the majority of studies have mainly been conducted in western countries with largely Christian populations. On the other hand, the research in other parts of the world is relatively scarce. Turkey is a country that forms a bridge between the West and the East, and historically has a religious culture, with a Muslim majority population. It has begun embracing western values along with the process of secularisation since the beginning of the last century. This westernizing trend has become even more evident in the so-called global era. Therefore, the objective of this investigation is to explore the contemporary perceptions of spirituality in a Turkish context. Moreover, it aims to examine whether the popular perceptions of spirituality that emerged in the western world exist in Turkey. Accordingly, qualitative interviews have been conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate university students from the departments of Psychology and Theology in Turkey. Consequently, it is found that the understandings of the term among the participants are similar to contemporary definitions of spirituality in the West. Correspondingly, it is argued that the western European conceptualisations of the term might be applicable with some qualifications in the Turkish context since there is not a substantial difference between the perceptions of spirituality in the West and Turkey.