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

Stoyanov, Yuri

Abstract

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.

Citation

Stoyanov, Y. (2001). Islamic and Christian heterodox water cosmogonies from the Ottoman period-parallels and contrasts. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 64(1), 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x01000027

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 9, 2001
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2001
• Deposit Date: Aug 24, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 24, 2023
• Journal: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Print ISSN: 0041-977X
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-0699
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 64
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 19-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0041977x01000027
• Keywords: Christian Heterodoxy, Islamic Heterodoxy: Oral and Literary Traditions, Islamic-Christian Syncretism, Alevism, Bektāşīsm, Turkic and Kurdish Popular Religion and Cosmogonies, Oral Literature, Ottoman Religious and Literary History
• Related Public URLs: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/islamic-and-christian-heterodox-water-cosmogonies-from-the-ottoman-periodparalleles-and-contrasts/434CFE95B7DCFDF48ECE0C8821DFEE89