Stephen J. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774248306
- eISBN:
- 9781617970436
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774248306.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines the history of ecclesiastical colonialism and the challenges faced by the Egyptian Church during the period from 451 to the rise of Islam. It aims to provide a better ...
More
This chapter examines the history of ecclesiastical colonialism and the challenges faced by the Egyptian Church during the period from 451 to the rise of Islam. It aims to provide a better understanding of how the social and theological identity of the Egyptian papacy was conditioned by imperialist discourses of power and by the complications of political resistance. It also traces the circuitous history of the papal resistance to the Chalcedonian Church up to the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642, an event that ultimately reshuffled the political landscape for Egyptian Christians and posed new possibilities and new challenges for Coptic papal leadership.Less
This chapter examines the history of ecclesiastical colonialism and the challenges faced by the Egyptian Church during the period from 451 to the rise of Islam. It aims to provide a better understanding of how the social and theological identity of the Egyptian papacy was conditioned by imperialist discourses of power and by the complications of political resistance. It also traces the circuitous history of the papal resistance to the Chalcedonian Church up to the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642, an event that ultimately reshuffled the political landscape for Egyptian Christians and posed new possibilities and new challenges for Coptic papal leadership.
Stephen J. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774248306
- eISBN:
- 9781617970436
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774248306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the ...
More
The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the 3rd century ad. This three-volume study of the popes of Egypt covers the history of the Alexandrian patriarchate from its origins to the present-day leadership of Pope Shenouda III. The first volume analyzes the development of the Egyptian papacy from its origins to the rise of Islam. How did the papal office in Egypt evolve as a social and religious institution during the first six and a half centuries ad? How do the developments in the Alexandrian patriarchate reflect larger developments in the Egyptian church as a whole—in its structures of authority and lines of communication, as well as in its social and religious practices? In addressing such questions, the book examines a wide range of evidence—letters, sermons, theological treatises, and church histories, as well as art, artifacts, and archaeological remains—to discover what the patriarchs did as leaders, how their leadership was represented in public discourses, and how those representations definitively shaped Egyptian Christian identity in late antiquity.Less
The Copts, adherents of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, today represent the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and their presiding bishops have been accorded the title of pope since the 3rd century ad. This three-volume study of the popes of Egypt covers the history of the Alexandrian patriarchate from its origins to the present-day leadership of Pope Shenouda III. The first volume analyzes the development of the Egyptian papacy from its origins to the rise of Islam. How did the papal office in Egypt evolve as a social and religious institution during the first six and a half centuries ad? How do the developments in the Alexandrian patriarchate reflect larger developments in the Egyptian church as a whole—in its structures of authority and lines of communication, as well as in its social and religious practices? In addressing such questions, the book examines a wide range of evidence—letters, sermons, theological treatises, and church histories, as well as art, artifacts, and archaeological remains—to discover what the patriarchs did as leaders, how their leadership was represented in public discourses, and how those representations definitively shaped Egyptian Christian identity in late antiquity.
