Author Description

The nineteen studies in this volume, produced over the last fifteen years, cover three areas in Christian Egypt's long and enduring history. First are eight papers dealing with record-keeping in both of the Christian Egyptian culture-carrying languages of late antiquity, Coptic and Greek, showing how these languages were used pragmatically and interactively to embody everyday transactions and messages. Then come five studies of a major sixth-century thinker and theologian, John Philoponus, who contributed greatly to the self-definition of the non-Chalcedonian Egyptian church and employed both classical philosophy and biblical exegesis to provide his fellow Miaphysites with needed intellectual tools. Finally there are six articles ranging from sixth-century philosophy, poetry, and liturgy to the cultural productions of Egyptian Christians living under Muslim rule, including how they sought to memorialize traditions and deal with internal conflict.