Semiology and Religious Knowledge

Semiology is a nascent science that has had great impact on religious and literary studies. The impact of this science is not limited to literary and religious realms, but it compasses many fields including hermeneutics, linguistics, philosophy, artificial intelligence and many other fields. In this paper, first the science of semiology has been described and then semiotic activities of religious ulema have been explained as well as the relationship between Semiology and the religious knowledge. Religious knowledge is command-oriented and semiotic studies on religious commands shape the main core of religious knowledge. Semiology is linked to religious knowledge through many of its achievements. In this paper, four main topics are discussed to show impact of semiology on religious knowledge. Those topics include:- Major activities in the field of semiology or semiotics by religious ulema;- Understanding the logic of religious commands;- The principle that any understanding can be given up (viewpoint of Umberto Eco);- Limitlessness of semiotic process.Any of those topics open a new chapter in religious knowledge and give a specific direction to it. What is offered to readers is a summary of a detailed written piece.Although the science of semiology or semiotics is one of the most expanded scientific fields that affects many other fields such as linguistics, hermeneutics, philosophy, religious studies…, its nature and main duty is still largely unknown and has not found its rightful status among academic circles. Semiology is a science that studies signs including linguistic and non-linguistic signs and their denotations and relationships with their subjects. Umberto Eco, one of the most renowned semiologists of the 20th century says, “Semiology deals with everything that can be called a ‘sign’”.That sign could be a word, a specific phoneme or a picture. Signs denote certain meanings, on the one hand, and try to indicate a reality, on the other hand. Semiology delves into the way a meaning is created and also studies the way signs indicate realities.Thomas Seebeck is another prominent contemporary semiologist that believed semiology to deal with the method of exchanging any kind of information or any kind of relationship. It is obvious that signs are used to make contact and, in practice, any kind of contact is established by using signs. Sometime it is said that semiology is a main branch of communications.