Islamic and Christian heterodox water cosmogonies from the Ottoman period-parallels and contrasts

Click here to view record
Main author: Stoyanov, Yuri
Format: Journal Article           
Online access: Click here to view record


id eprints-39765
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic BL Religions. Mythology. Rationalism
BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc
BR Christianity
BT Doctrinal Theology
BX Christian Denominations
GN Anthropology
GR Folklore
HS Societies secret benevolent etc
PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature
PI Oriental languages and literatures
PK Indo-Iranian languages and literatures
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
description This article explores some important parallels and differences between certain Eastern Christian and Islamic heterodox (Alevi/Kizilbash, Yezidi and Ahl-e Haqq) cosmogonies, which shared and developed old cosmogonic themes such as the ‘primal ocean’ and the ‘earth-diver’-demiurge, and co-existed during the Ottoman period. The investigation reveals that some of the Eastern Christian versions of these cosmogonies have retained their archaic forms, but in most of them the earth-diver is identified with the Devil, a movement towards cosmogonic and religious dualism that could have been effected by both heretical and popular Christian diabology. Conversely, despite the existing traits of dualist and earth-diver cosmogonies in Northern and Central Asian non-Islamic Turkic and related religious traditions, a comparative analysis as demonstrated in this article shows that the Alevi/Kizilbash, Ahl-e Haqq and Yezidi cosmogonies did not absorb or develop these dualist features but rather tried to neutralize them by reinterpreting them in a largely monotheistic framework.
format Journal Article
author Stoyanov, Yuri
author_facet Stoyanov, Yuri
authorStr Stoyanov, Yuri
author_letter Stoyanov, Yuri
title Islamic and Christian heterodox water cosmogonies from the Ottoman period-parallels and contrasts
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2001
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/39765/

Similar items