Samuel Tadros provides a clear understanding of Copts—the native Egyptian Christians—and their crisis of modernity in conjunction with the overall developments in Egypt as it faced its own struggles with modernity. He argues that the modern plight of Copts is inseparable from the crisis of modernity and the answers developed to address that crisis by the Egyptian state and intellectuals, as well as by the Coptic Church and laypeople.

Copts in Modernity presents a collection of essays, many containing unpublished archival material, showcasing historical and contemporary aspects pertaining to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The volume covers three main themes: History; Education, Leadership and Service; and Identity and Material Culture.

Review: "Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt is the first study of Christian identity politics in contemporary Egypt. S.S. Hasan begins by looking at how the Coptic generation of the 1940s and 1950s remembered, recovered, and imagined the ancient history of Christianity in Egypt in order to weld the Copts into a unified nation, resistant to the growing encroachments of Islam. She argues that this interpretation of history, in which Egyptian martyrs figure prominently, made possible the rebirth of the Coptic church and community - in much the same way as the preservation of Hebrew and the historical memory of Jewish tribulations served the purpose of national reconstruction of the state of Israel."--Jacket

Copts and the Security State combines political, anthropological, and social history to analyze the practices of the Egyptian state and the political acts of the Egyptian Coptic minority. Laure Guirguis considers how the state, through its subjugation of Coptic citizens, reproduces a political order based on religious identity and difference. The leadership of the Coptic Church, in turn, has taken more political stances, thus foreclosing opportunities for secularization or common ground. In each instance, the underlying logics of authoritarianism and sectarianism articulate a fear of the Other, and, as Guirguis argues, are ultimately put to use to justify the expanding Egyptian security state. In outlining the development of the security state, Guirguis focuses on state discourses and practices, with particular emphasis on the period of Hosni Mubarak's rule, and shows the transformation of the Orthodox Coptic Church under the leadership of Pope Chenouda III. She also considers what could be done to counter the growing tensions and violence in Egypt. The 2011 Egyptian uprising constitutes the most radical recent attempt to subvert the predominant order. Still, the revolutionary discourses and practices have not yet brought forward a new system to counter the sectarian rhetoric, and the ongoing counter-revolution continues to repress political dissent.

This volume presents the results of the Leiden project on the identity formation of the Syrian Orthodox Christians, which developed from a religious association into an ethnic community. A number of specialists react to the findings and discuss the cases of the East Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Ethiopians.

An authoritative history of the Coptic Papacy from the Ottoman era to the present day, new in paperback This third and final volume of The Popes of Egypt series spans the five centuries from the arrival of the Ottomans in 1517 to the present era. Hardly any scholarly work has been written about the Copts during the Ottoman period. Using court, financial, and building records, as well as archives from the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate and monasteries, Magdi Guirguis has reconstructed the authority of the popes and the organization of the Coptic community during this time. He reveals that the popes held complete authority over their flock at the beginning of the Ottoman rule, deciding over questions ranging from marriage and concubines to civil disputes. As the fortunes of Coptic notables rose, they gradually took over the pope’s role and it was not until the time of Muhammad Ali that the popes regained their former authority. In the second part of the book, Nelly van Doorn-Harder analyzes how with the dawning of the modern era in the nineteenth century, the leadership style of the Coptic popes necessarily changed drastically. As Egypt’s social, political, and religious landscape underwent dramatic changes, the Coptic Church experienced a virtual renaissance, and expanded from a local to a global institution. Furthermore she addresses the political, religious, and cultural issues faced by the patriarchs while leading the Coptic community into the twenty-first century.

Looks at the history, traditions, theology and structure of the ancient and modern churches and monasteries.

Few churches today can trace their lineage as far back as the Copts. Their ancient traditions and rituals go back as far as the very beginnings of Christianity. For centuries, they have withstood many trials and martyrdoms. But in the twentieth century, many Copts left their homeland and scattered all over the Earth, seeking prosperity and security. Many went to the West, but many others went to the heart of the Islamic world: the Arabian Gulf. They took their faith with them into this new and challenging environment. In this context, hybrid forms of spirituality emerged, anchored in the ancient practices but sharpened by contact with globalisation. This migrant spirituality characterises their stories and touches the heart of what it means to be a Christian sojourner today.

In this pioneering account of Egyptian educational history, Paul Sedra describes how the Egyptian state under Muhammad Ali Pasha sought to forge a new relationship with children during the nineteenth century. Through the introduction of modern forms of education, brought to Egypt by evangelical missions, the state aimed to ensure children's loyal service to the state, whether through conscription or forced labour. However, these schemes of educational reform, most prominently Joseph Lancaster's monitorial system, led to unforeseen consequences as students in Egypt's new modern schools resisted efforts to control their behaviour in creative and complex ways, and these acts of resistance themselves led to new forms of political identity. Tracing the development of a distinctly Egyptian 'modernity', From Mission to Modernity is indispensable for all those interested in Egyptian history and the history of modern education and reform.

Since the Arab Spring in 2011 and ISIS’s rise in 2014, Egypt’s Copts have attracted attention worldwide as the collateral damage of revolution and as victims of sectarian strife. Countering the din of persecution rhetoric and Islamophobia, The Political Lives of Saints journeys into the quieter corners of divine intercession to consider what martyrs, miracles, and mysteries have to do with the routine challenges faced by Christians and Muslims living together under the modern nation-state. Drawing on years of extensive fieldwork, Angie Heo argues for understanding popular saints as material media that organize social relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt toward varying political ends. With an ethnographer’s eye for traces of antiquity, she deciphers how long-cherished imaginaries of holiness broker bonds of revolutionary sacrifice, reconfigure national sites of sacred territory, and pose sectarian threats to security and order. A study of tradition and nationhood at their limits, The Political Lives of Saints shows that Coptic Orthodoxy is a core domain of minoritarian regulation and authoritarian rule, powerfully reversing the recurrent thesis of its impending extinction in the Arab Muslim world.