Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

The aim of this article is to try to determine the changing nature of the relationship between city and religion in the historical process within a theoretical framework. All over the world and over a long period of history, cities have exhibited characteristic features specific to the traditional/feudal society of which they are a part. Likewise, modern cities exhibit their own characteristics as a part of modern societies. In other words, cities are not considered as communities that exist alone. They can be understood by relating them to the basic structure of the larger society of which they are a part. In this respect, the city is, in Robert Park's words, a "laboratory" for researching social behavior. Especially with the developments after the Industrial Revolution, cities have become areas where the fate of societies in general is determined and represent a lifestyle different from the traditional society. Naturally, the changes experienced in the reshaped city life made the change in the field of religion and culture inevitable in the context of urbanization, and the rapid change process called modernization constituted the breaking point of the centuries-old relationship between religion and cities, which have been changing and transforming since the ancient period. In this respect, cities are not only about people but also about each other; They are areas where they establish a relationship with the place they live in and make it a part of social processes by being affected by it or by influencing and changing it. Human beings have not lived in cities since the early periods of history. The city is a living space that people build in line with their own purposes and social relations. Throughout history, civilizations and cities that have collapsed or disappeared have been replaced by other civilizations and cities. On the other hand, the difficulties faced by the classical cities that existed in the past and the modern industrial cities that emerged after the Industrial Revolution could not be overcome with a more advanced social organization or a settlement/management style different from the city. Cities, which are an advanced level and a developed example of social organization, have been areas that have incorporated different administrative networks and social relations throughout history. Although the reasons for attracting the population intensively during the periods in which they existed were sometimes based on defense factors, sometimes on religious elements, and sometimes on facts such as trade or industry, the common feature of all cities that were established or disappeared in the process from city-site cities to today's modern industrial cities is; It is the continuity of the power they produce through the resources they dominate. As a result, throughout history, human communities have designed their surroundings according to the ideal life they dream of, and when a city is built, the physical and sociological structure of the city appears as a reflection of the beliefs, traditions and social organization of that society. As a matter of fact, in Gülzar's words, capitalist societies are "eco-centric" by building their cities around skyscrapers, stock exchanges and trade centers; While communist societies create a "socio-centric" city model by building their cities around large squares and monuments; Societies based on belief in God, such as the Islamic civilization, have created a "theo-centric" model by building their cities around temples and sacred places. Therefore, in cases where the secular institutions of the modern city cannot meet some of the needs of people such as the search for purpose and meaning in both individual and social life, it is not surprising that religion comes to the fore by gaining new roles and functions. It is thought that new field research and findings are needed in order to better detect the differences in society's perception of religion. Because it can be said that religion, in addition to its sacred and transcendent nature, performs an important function both individually and socially by meeting the important needs of people thanks to its inherent value system. In this sense, in the study, the changes in religion-society relations, specifically the distinction between classical city and modern city, were examined from a sociological perspective, from a theoretical perspective, by adopting a qualitative research pattern (strategy) from scientific research patterns.