Erdoğan Çınar
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Erdoğan Çınar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Turkey |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Subject | Religion and history |
| Literary movement | Ishikism |
| Notable works | Aleviliğin Gizli Tarihi (2004) |
| Part of a series on the Alevis Alevism |
|---|
 Islam portal |
Erdoğan Çınar is a Turkish writer known for promoting Ishikism. He has written extensively on Alevism, Bektashism, the history of religion, Turkish history and archaeology, and many other topics. Although proponents of Ishikism heavily depend on Erdoğan Çınar's works, others have criticized his works as historical revisionism or pseudohistory.[1]
In 2004, Erdoğan Çınar published his seminal book Aleviliğin Gizli Tarihi ("The Secret History of Alevism"),[2] which claimed that Alevism is the oldest religion in the world. As the "First and True Religion" of the world, Çınar claims that Alevism is the main source of all other religions and beliefs in the world:
Aleviliğin, on binlerce yıllık geçmişten gelen, bütün inanışları etkilemiş, semavi dinlere başlangıç oluşturmuş asıl kaynak, "Serçeşme", olduğunu bütün gerçekliğiyle ortaya çıkartıyor.
It has now been brought into the open with all its truth, that Alevism, with its tens of thousands of years of history, has influenced all beliefs and has been the Original Source (the so-called "Serçeşme" – meaning "Beginning Spot of Fountain") of the celestial religions.
— Erdoğan Çınar in: Aleviliğin Gizli Tarihi (2004)
Çınar claims that the Luwians, Paulicians, Bogomils, Cathars, and other Gnostic groups were in fact Alevis. He identifies the legendary Alevi figure Pir Sultan Abdal as Constantine-Silvanus, the founder of Paulicianism. Thus, according to Çınar, the Paulicians and other Gnostic groups of the Byzantine Empire were not actually Christians, but were in fact "Alevis" in the original sense. His 2007 book Aleviliğin Kayıp Bin Yılı (325-1325) discusses the "lost millennium" of Alevi history during the Byzantine Empire (325-1325 CE).[3]
In the 2020 book Bronz Çağı’nda Alevilik, Erdoğan Çınar identifies some Anatolian Bronze Age civilizations (4000 BC-1750 BC) with Alevism.[4]
