The Question of Sin in the Communication of Modern Turkish Catholics

The communication between the Christian community and the predominantly Muslim population of the Middle East (which, with some reservations, includes Turkey) has for centuries been in the focus of researchers and practitioners. The study of problems arising in this area is becoming particularly relevant in connection with the current shift of domestic science towards the East. This article attempts to reconstruct one specific segment of this communication: to establish the ways in which a religious understanding of sin can influence various types of communication within a single culture. The research materials included expert interviews with Catholic priests serving in Turkey, interviews with Turkish Catholics and catechumens, interviews with Turks who do not consider themselves followers of Christianity (Muslims, Alevi, atheists, and agnostics), as well as data from inclusive observation. Content analysis and discourse analysis of these data allowed us to conclude that the conceptualization of sin in the linguistic consciousness of representatives of the local Catholic community in Turkey is predominantly influenced by the general cultural context set by the linguistic reality (the collective cultural unconscious), conditioned by cultural practices of local origin and the perceptions of the Muslim majority. The particularities of Catholics' original interpretations of sin are linked to catechetical practices and are overlaid on top of these realities, "reassembling" them. This creates a situation of "double rupture" that challenges mutual understanding between Turkish Catholics and the Muslim cultural environment. This requires additional missionary and cultural efforts aimed at implementing the main commandment of Christianity.