Description
Book SynopsisCopts in Modernity presents a collection of essays – many of which contain unpublished archival material – showcasing historical and contemporary aspects pertaining to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The volume covers three main themes: The first theme, History, gathers studies that look back to the nineteenth and late eighteenth centuries to understand the realities of the twentieth and twenty-first; the second theme, Education, Leadership and Service, explores the role of religious education in the revival of the Church and how Coptic religious principles influenced the ideas of leadership and service that resulted in the Church’s spiritual revival; and the third theme, Identity and Material Culture, draws upon a broad range of material and visual culture to exemplify the role they play in creating and recreating identities. This volume brings together the work of senior and early career scholars from Australia, Europe, Egypt, and the United States.
Table of ContentsPreface List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Notes on Transliteration and Common Abbreviations Introduction Lisa Agaiby, Mark Swanson and Nelly van Doorn-Harder Part 1 History 1 The Ottoman Tanzimat Edict of 1856 and Its Consequences for the Christians of Egypt: The Rashomon Effect in Coptic History Heather Sharkey 2 A Correspondence between Rome and Alexandria in the Middle Ages: An Example from the Eighteenth Century Magdi Awad 3 A New Contribution to Understanding the Pastoral Care of Pope Peter VII (1809–1852) Bigoul El-Suriany 4 Pope Mark VIII (1796–1809), the Author of Psalis for St. Mark Youhanna N. Youssef 5 Printing the Medieval Copto-Arabic Heritage: From the ‘Golden Age’ to the Printed Page Mark N. Swanson 6 The Coptic Papacy in the Twentieth Century and beyond: A Study of the Papal Selection Process in the Modern Era Peter H. Cosman Part 2 Education, Leadership, and Service 7 Habib Girgis: Reformer of Religious and Theological Education in the Coptic Orthodox Church Bishop Suriel 8 An Example of Coptic Leadership and Patronage: Lay-Archon Louis Zikri Wissa and Sixty Years Commitment in the Sunday School Movement Myriam Wissa 9 Bishop Samuel’s Ministry of Teaching and Serving: The Formative Years Cherubim Saed and Nelly van Doorn-Harder 10 The Idea of Personal Ascetic Reform in Kyrillos VI (1902–1971) Daniel Fanous 11 “Draughts of Love and Divine Revelations”: Experiential Theology in Matta Al-Miskīn and Fayek M. Ishak Samuel Kaldas 12 A Multidimensional Understanding of Sunday School in the Coptic Orthodox Tradition Michael Salib 13 Mother Irini’s Visions of Leadership: Pachomian Rule and Teaching of the Fathers Nelly van Doorn-Harder Part 3 Identity and Material Culture 14 “Sign of Martyrdom, Heresy and Pride”: The Christian Coptic Tattoo and the Construction of Coptic Identity Nebojsa Tumara 15 The Cenotaph in the Cave Church of St. Paul the Hermit at the Red Sea: A Case Study of a Dream in the Twentieth Century Lisa Agaiby and Shady Nessim 16 Coptic Religious Heritage: Is There a Future for the Past? Karel Innemee 17 The Ideological Dimensions of Coptic Music Theory: Evolution of Musical Theorization as a Cultural Strategy Nicholas Ragheb Index
