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/9789774248306.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the history and the making of the Coptic papacy in Egypt. The analysis reveals four recurrent strategies of representation that ...
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This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the history and the making of the Coptic papacy in Egypt. The analysis reveals four recurrent strategies of representation that proved determinative for the cultural construction of the Coptic papacy in late antiquity. These include apostolicity, martyrdom, monastic patronage, and theological resistance. The results also indicate that during the 1st and 2nd centuries a rising class of Alexandrian bishops started to bring the teaching office of the church under their purview and later a rhetoric of solidarity with the martyrs emerged in the midst of ecclesiastical debates over the proper response to the threat of persecution and to the dilemmas raised by lapsed Christians.Less
This concluding chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the history and the making of the Coptic papacy in Egypt. The analysis reveals four recurrent strategies of representation that proved determinative for the cultural construction of the Coptic papacy in late antiquity. These include apostolicity, martyrdom, monastic patronage, and theological resistance. The results also indicate that during the 1st and 2nd centuries a rising class of Alexandrian bishops started to bring the teaching office of the church under their purview and later a rhetoric of solidarity with the martyrs emerged in the midst of ecclesiastical debates over the proper response to the threat of persecution and to the dilemmas raised by lapsed Christians.
John Willinsky
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226487922
- eISBN:
- 9780226488080
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226488080.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter sets out the terms of patronage and sponsorship for medieval monasticism, which involved elaborate rituals on the part of nobility in bequeathing land and other resources to fund a ...
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This chapter sets out the terms of patronage and sponsorship for medieval monasticism, which involved elaborate rituals on the part of nobility in bequeathing land and other resources to fund a monastery. Yet every level of society was involved in acts of sponsorship and donation to the monastery, which enabled these religious houses to sustain the production and copying of works of learning, which became their own marker of the abbey’s pious devoutness and worthiness of support. This patronage economy, in which women played a significant role, has a quality of transubstantiation to it as the land – which was originally a gift of God and then returned to Him through the monastery – was transformed into the text, literally in its materials and figuratively in its affordances. This sponsorship became a property of monastic learning as it enabled the learned to give expression to their studies. This institutional patronage is compared to the personal patronage of the scholar, which represents an older but much less stable tradition. On the other hand, the monasteries had to wrestle with their own forms of excess in wealth and knowledge, which did not become their spirit of humility.Less
This chapter sets out the terms of patronage and sponsorship for medieval monasticism, which involved elaborate rituals on the part of nobility in bequeathing land and other resources to fund a monastery. Yet every level of society was involved in acts of sponsorship and donation to the monastery, which enabled these religious houses to sustain the production and copying of works of learning, which became their own marker of the abbey’s pious devoutness and worthiness of support. This patronage economy, in which women played a significant role, has a quality of transubstantiation to it as the land – which was originally a gift of God and then returned to Him through the monastery – was transformed into the text, literally in its materials and figuratively in its affordances. This sponsorship became a property of monastic learning as it enabled the learned to give expression to their studies. This institutional patronage is compared to the personal patronage of the scholar, which represents an older but much less stable tradition. On the other hand, the monasteries had to wrestle with their own forms of excess in wealth and knowledge, which did not become their spirit of humility.
Mark N. Swanson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774160936
- eISBN:
- 9781617970498
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774160936.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
In Volume 1 of this series, Stephen Davis contended that the themes of “apostolicity, martyrdom, monastic patronage, and theological resistance” were determinative for the cultural construction of ...
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In Volume 1 of this series, Stephen Davis contended that the themes of “apostolicity, martyrdom, monastic patronage, and theological resistance” were determinative for the cultural construction of Egyptian church leadership in late antiquity. This book, Volume 2, shows that the medieval Coptic popes (641–1517 ce) were regularly portrayed as standing in continuity with their saintly predecessors; however, at the same time, they were active in creating something new, the Coptic Orthodox Church, a community that struggled to preserve a distinctive life and witness within the new Islamic world order. Building on recent advances in the study of sources for Coptic church history, this volume aims to show how portrayals of the medieval popes provide a window into the religious and social life of their community.Less
In Volume 1 of this series, Stephen Davis contended that the themes of “apostolicity, martyrdom, monastic patronage, and theological resistance” were determinative for the cultural construction of Egyptian church leadership in late antiquity. This book, Volume 2, shows that the medieval Coptic popes (641–1517 ce) were regularly portrayed as standing in continuity with their saintly predecessors; however, at the same time, they were active in creating something new, the Coptic Orthodox Church, a community that struggled to preserve a distinctive life and witness within the new Islamic world order. Building on recent advances in the study of sources for Coptic church history, this volume aims to show how portrayals of the medieval popes provide a window into the religious and social life of their community.
