KÜLT VE KÜLTÜR ARASINDA: YENİ BİR KÜLT TANIMLAMASINA DOĞRU
BETWEEN CULT AND CULTURE: TOWARDS A NEW CULT IDENTIFICATION

Summary/Abstract: Terminology in the first step of scientific studies prevents the expression of the same objects in different terms and in this way, a field information that provides an environment of agreement presents. To dominate terminology also means dominating the field knowledge. However, terminology provides an opportunity to help prevent conceptual clutter in field knowledge. As in every field of science, the terminology of the social sciences is updated in time and space and new concepts are added. These updates are also made in the mythology within the field of social science. There are still some terms in Turkish mythology that have not been agreed upon. One of them is the cult term and it has been evaluated from a theological perspective until today. Also, it is seen that the current definitions of cult in Turkish mythology ignore the “context”. This point of view has expanded the use of “worship and/or prayers” provisions in relation to cult. Moreover, such definitions are not capable of representing the area in the context of myth research. Provisions for cult do not provide an adequate explanation for the understanding of the occurrence of cult. Therefore, a new cult definition is needed in Turkish mythology. In this study, the said deficiency was tried to be eliminated and a new definition of the cult has been proposed. In the study, the cult was evaluated primarily according to the context in which it was used, and then it was approached structurally and functionally. As a result of these evaluations and inquiries on the basis of structural functionalism, it was found that there might be a relationship between cult and culture. “The cult(ic) origins of culture” could be determined through this relationship in the study. In this process, the definitions of cult in the literature were examined. Then, it was proposed to define a new cult to be used in myth researches and to open the subject to discussion. Finally, the importance of the cult for mythology research -and even for today’s cultural studies- will be revealed.

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