This qualitative study aims to analyse the worldview that emerges in the textbooks of Turkish imam and preacher high schools (úmam hatip lisesi). The study material consists of eight
textbooks that belong to the vocational religious education of Turkish imams. All of the textbooks were published around 2010.
In this study, theoretical considerations regarding the essence of worldview (Weltanschauung) are summarized into an existential model of worldview (EKMA). The model provides two viewpoints from which to understand the worldview under study. The first viewpoint concentrates on understanding the worldview’s belief structure and the content of
those beliefs. The second viewpoint examines language usage and various ways of being as
crucial parts of the essence of the researched worldview (see van Deurzen 2004). The study
suggests that by combining these two viewpoints in the spirit of dialogical pluralism, it is
possible to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of th
e worldview. The method of
analysis is discourse analysis based on ontological constructionism. The method is then applied within the interpretative framework of the existential model of worldview (EKMA).
The study identifies and presents eight interpretative repertoires that can be divided
into two broad types: those that construct a religious way of being and those that construct a
republican-nationalistic way of being. The analysis indicates that idealistic representations of
an ideal Islamic society, the global brotherhood of Muslims and the citizens of the Turkish
republic as a unanimous and united nation face substantial challenges on the level of the
social world. These challenges become apparent in the study material textbooks, but they are
even more obvious when ideal interpretative repertoires are considered within the surrounding cultural context.
However, the interpretative repertoires that operate in the social realms of human ex-
istence construct diverse models of living as a good Muslim and a good citizen in the Republic of Turkey, in the modern world and as a member of a Muslim community. In the study
material’s worldview, religious fanaticism and backwardness are judged. On the other hand,
the republican-nationalistic discourse includes accounts full of pathos, which give the impression that the Republic of Turkey and the unity of the nation have been threatened. Although most of the interpretative repertoires encourage a tolerant way of being, the study
material also includes discourses that build prejudices and hostile positions towards people
who are related to as “others”.
This study describes the content of textbooks used in the education of Turkish imams.
These descriptions can provide a useful baseline for when the curriculum of the imam educa-
tion is conceived of in a European context. However, the methodological viewpoint that ex-
amines language usage shows that the essence of the worldview being studied is much more
multidimensional than just dogmatic beliefs and the jurisprudence of Islamic law. The study
suggests that this multidimensional understanding about the essence and meaning of a
worldview should be considered when the educational curriculum for imams is constructed
for a European context.
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