From Rumi to Buddha: Charting Alternative Spiritualities in Contemporary Türkiye (Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities)

By: Betül Avcı and H. Şule Albayrak

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Synopsis: An anthology of diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to new spiritualities, this volume brings together interdisciplinary case studies from literature, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and religious studies. It focuses on a range of figures, movements, concepts, and practices associated with non-traditional spiritualities in contemporary Türkiye, examining how novel, eclectic, quasi-desacralized, and self-oriented forms of spirituality are increasingly favored over traditional ones. Grounded in the current cultural context, the contributors explore how spiritualities originally inspired by Southeast Asian traditions, Shamanic practices, and other sources are first transformed into Western forms, then adapted into Muslim-Turkish settings. The term &“alternative&” highlights the creative, eclectic, non-traditional, or even anti-religious nature of such practices. As the first volume of its kind, this book is an essential resource for scholars of new religious movements and alternative spiritualities in Türkiye.