Televangelism and the Case of Yasar Nuri Özturk

Abstract

Today mass media, especially the audio-visual media, exert an immense influence on nearly every society, and Turkey is no exception. The television ap pearances of the Turkish Islamic theologian and author Yasar Nuri Öztürk is striking in this context of rising mediatic hegemony. The development of televangelism in the USA, which has lead to nation-wide religiousmovements, is not without parallels in Turkey, where the television has virtually become a religious medium - for some, even a 'tele-mosque' of sorts.