Coptic christology in practice : incarnation and divine participation in late antique and medieval Egypt / Stephen J. Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Stephen J.

Series:

Oxford early Christian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coptic Church--History.

Coptic Church.

History.

Egypt--Church history.

Egypt.

Church history.

Jesus Christ--Person and offices.

Jesus Christ.

Physical Description:

xvii, 371 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008.

Summary:

Coptic Christology in Practice forges a new path in the study of ancient and medieval Christology. Employing a range of interdisciplinary methods derived from the fields of social history, discourse theory, ritual studies, and the visual arts, Stephen J. Davis demonstrates how Christian identity in Egypt was shaped by a set of replicable 'christological practices'. How did Egyptian Christians interpret Scripture and their Alexandrian patristic heritage in developing their ideas about the Incarnation and human participation in the divine? How did they represent-and ritually enact-their beliefs about Christ in monastic liturgy, in pilgrimage, and in the visual production of sacred space? In what ways were such christological practices shaped by controversy and inter-religious debate? Egypt provides an ideal geographical setting for the exploration of these questions: not only is it rich in ancient Christian documentation, but it is also a place where the survival of the Coptic church under medieval Islamic rule allows the study of literary and material sources across periods of linguistic change-from Greek, to Coptic, and eventually into Arabic. In the pages of this book, readers will be able to trace the fascinating lines of the Coptic church's theological and cultural transition from late antiquity to Dar al-Islam.

Contents:

Introduction: The Roots of Coptic Christology: Incarnation and Divine Participation in Late Antique Alexandrian Greek Theology 1

Part I Coptic Literature and Liturgy

1 Incarnation and Ritual Practice in the Fifth-Century Writings of Shenoute of Atripe 59

2 Christology in Coptic Eucharistic Liturgies 86

Part II Bodies, Practices, and Sacred Space

3 Christology in Coptic Pilgrimage and the Cult of the Saints 111

4 Christology and Coptic Art: Images of the Incarnation on Egyptian Bodies and Monuments 153

Part III Arabization and Christian-Muslim Encounter

5 Incarnation and Christian-Muslim Apologetics in the Tenth-Century Writings of Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa' 201

6 From Alexandria to Cairo: The Medieval Golden Age of Copto-Arabic Christology 237

Postscript: The Modern Legacy of Coptic Christology 271

Appendix A Translations of Coptic Texts 279

1 Shenoute of Atripe, I Am Amazed (excerpts) 279

2 Shenoute of Atripe, And It Happened One Day 286

3 Shenoute of Atripe, When the Word Says (excerpts) 289

Appendix B Translations of Copto-Arabic Texts 292

1 Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa', The Lamp of Understanding, chs. 4-7 292

2 Ps.-Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa', The Book of the Elucidation, ch. 4 (excerpt) 297

3 Bulus al-Bushi, On the Incarnation 299

4 Al-Safi ibn al-'Assal, Brief Chapters on the Trinity and the Union, chs. 7-11 306

5 Al-Mu'taman ibn al-'Assal, Summary of the Principles of Religion, chs. 23 (excerpts), 25-6 310

6 Patriarch Matthew IV, A Refutation of the Calvinists 316.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [319]-353) and indexes.

ISBN:

9780199258628

0199258627

OCLC:

176819479