The Coptic community in 19th century Egypt

Date
1986
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis 1s twofold: first to present a survey of the Coptic corrmunity 1n Egypt from 1798-1914, focusing on Coptic institutions. Des pi t e the ex t en s i v e doc ume n t a t i on av a i I ab I e on E gyp t i an h i s t or y and sociology for the 19th century, no study has hitherto been undertaken with the express goal of examining the Coptic community. The second goal of the study 1s to document the e v o I u t i on of Cop t i c i n st i tut i on s fr om the ear I y I 9th century, a time when the very existence of the comnunity was 1n jeopardy, to the early 20th century, when the Coptic "Renaissance" was in full flower. Wealthy Coptic reformers took it upon themselves to reform the Church as well as to enhance the institutional structure of the Coptic corrmunity. The reformers established schools, journals, benevolent organizations, and cultural societies to probe their history and revive their heritage. Towards the latter part of the 19th century, and on the threshold of the 20th, a large number of lay Copts transformed their con s e r v a t i v e , ch u r ch - c en t e red c onmu n i t y i n t o a pr o gr e s s I v e C O!TlllU n i t y . The great changes of this period have been referred to as the Coptic "Renaissance" or nahda. These ch an g es , the t rans format i on o f the c onrnu n a I s t r u ct u res , the rising wealth of a great many Copts and the p r o l i f e r a t i o n o f i n s t i t u t i o n s a I s o a I I owe d ma n y Co p t s t o p I a y a r o I e i n the n at i on a I i s t mo v eme n t , as the revitalized Coptic corrmunity began to foresee a new role for itself within the fabric of an increasingly secularized Egyptian society.
Description
Bibliography: p. 181-200.
Keywords
Citation
Daus, T. D. (1986). The Coptic community in 19th century Egypt (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/16644
Collections