Özet:

The present paper deals with theology from the point of view of the school of Eckankar and its critique based on the Islamic teachings. Three major topics are probed into in the school of Eckankar, i.e. the definition of religion, the origin of religion, and exclusiveness. On the topic of the definition of religion, Eckankar essentially regards as a religious experience in its common sense in the western culture. Therefore religion is an experience that the individual passes in him, and observing rituals such as going to the church are not regarded as faithfulness. From the point of view of Islamic teachings such an attitude causes the reduction of the values of the epistemic role of religion, while in Islam the epistemic aspects are very strong. On the topic of the origin of religion, once again the Eckankar School regards religion as the individual’s personal experiences .Therefore, based on the multiplicity of the individual’s religious experiences; religions will be multiple as well. Islamic teachings regard personal experiences as based on divine nature, but does not agree with the religious multiplicity as multiplicity in the legitimacy as regarded by the Eckankar School. The concluding part of this of this paper is the topic of religious exclusiveness of which the Eckankar School is a fervent advocate, but yet there are many contradictory points in the contents of the speeches of the supporters of this school. The paper attempts at showing its ambiguous and contradictory points from the point of view of Islamic teachings, and put to the test of critique.

Anahtar Kelimeler: