Coptic Christian practices: formations of sameness and difference

Galal, Lise Paulsen

doi:10.1080/09596410.2011.634596

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the Middle East, Christian Copts have had to find their way to be a part of the nation, one where an increasing separation from the wider Muslim society has been seen over the last decades (Galal 2012;Mayeur-Jaouen 2012;Shenoda 2012), and one where tensions after the Egyptian revolution have resulted in attacks on churches in worrying numbers (Abu-Munshar 2012;Heo 2013). In other countries in the region, such as Syria, the minority church is not a unified body as in Egypt.…”

Section: Politics Of Saints and Nationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

The 'Orthodoxy' of Orthodoxy: On Moral Imperfection, Correctness, and Deferral in Religious Worlds

Bandak¹,

Boylston²

2014

Religion and Society

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This article uses ethnographic studies of Orthodox Christianities as a way to investigate the concept of 'orthodoxy' as it applies to religious worlds. Orthodoxy, we argue, is to be found neither in opposition to popular religion nor solely in institutional churches, but in a set of encompassing relations among clergy and lay people that amounts to a religious world and a shared tradition. These relations are characterized by correctness and deferral-formal modes of relating to authority that are open-ended and non-definitive and so create room for certain kinds of pluralism, heterodoxy, and dissent within an overarching structure of faith and obedience. Attention to the aesthetics of orthodox practice shows how these relations are conditioned in multi-sensory, often non-linguistic ways. Consideration of the national and territorial aspects of Orthodoxy shows how these religious worlds of faith and deferral are also political worlds. n This article asks what it means to be 'orthodox' from the perspective of an ethnographic view of Orthodox Christianities. We hold that attention to orthodoxy offers a vital perspective on the relationship between religious actors and their institutions that may be missed in accounts of piety or fundamentalism and that sheds light on the continuing influence of liturgical religion and its discourses of truth and authority. A focus on the 'ortho' of orthodoxy-rightness or correctness-gives a clue as to how Orthodox Christianities construct encompassing, authoritative religious worlds in the face of moral imperfection. We investigate how deferral to authority results not in rigid verbal or textual articulations of the true, but in a notion of correctness that is carried in the living and ongoing traditions of the Church, where tradition includes oral, scriptural, aesthetic, liturgical, and other aspects taken together. Correctness thus understood cannot be encompassed by linguistic propositions but leaves open theological and ideological possibilities and modes of engagement with the sacred. We draw on ethnographic studies of (capital-O) Orthodox Christianities-and other institutionally oriented forms of Christianity-to develop Religion and Society: Advances in Research 5 (2014): 25-46 © Berghahn Books

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Section: Politics Of Saints and Nationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

The 'Orthodoxy' of Orthodoxy: On Moral Imperfection, Correctness, and Deferral in Religious Worlds

Bandak¹,

Boylston²

2014

Religion and Society

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“…places where Jesus is believed to have been -and they function as places for reviving and reconstructing memory (199)(200). In the orthodox churches, the holy shrines of saints and martyrs for example serve this function (Galal 2012). Such localities are in their materiality left behind in the countries of origin and this forces the congregations to create new places that nurture the collective memory.…”

Section: The Study Of Christian Immigrants and Sunday Ritualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incense and holy bread: the sense of belonging through ritual among Middle Eastern Christians in Denmark

Sparre

Galal

2017

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

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This article investigates how two Middle Eastern Christian churches in Denmark are constructed as particular sensorial spaces that invite attendees to participate in and identify with specific times and spaces. As with other Christian groups, rituals of the Sunday mass constitute a highlight of the activities that confirm the congregations' faith and community, but for members of a minority faith, these rituals also serve other functions related to identification and belonging. Inspired by a practice-oriented (Bell 1992) and phenomenological approach to placemaking (Cresswell 2002) through sensory communication (Leistle 2006; Pink 2009), the article examines constructions of religious identity and belonging through ritual practices. The findings stem from fieldwork carried out in 2014-2015 and are part of a larger crossdisciplinary study of Egyptian, Iraqi and Assyrian Christians in Denmark. We argue that in various ways, the ritual forms a performative space for memory and belonging which, through bodily practices and engagement with the materialities of the church rooms, creates a memory that reconnects the practitioners with places elsewhere. More specifically, we argue that the Sunday ritual facilitates the connection with God and the eternal, a place and time with fellow believers, and a relocation to remember and re-enter a pre-migration past and 'homeland'.

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“…Rather, Dowell (2012) interviewed Christian Egyptians who joined the Muslim communal prayers on Fridays in Tahrir Square, and even "invited thousands of Salafis to the church building to perform their ceremonial washing and prayer" (Dowell, 2012, p. 127). Further, the Egyptian identity being inclusive of Christians and Muslims has existed at least since the 20 th century when Egyptians fought for a secular, modern nation-state independent of colonizers (Galal, 2012). Iskander (2012) showed that newspapers reflect the emphasis on unity between Egyptian Christians and Egyptian Muslims in the public sphere.…”

Section: Egypt's "Maspero" Massacrementioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media coverage of “Maspero”: Solidarity between Muslims and Christians post The Egyptian Uprising

Bakry

Alkazemi

2016

Ro. Comm. & PR

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The current study examines the print and social media coverage of the “Maspero” massacre in Egypt, in which military forces attacked Coptic Christians in a predominantly Muslim country. By employing a qualitative content analysis, the authors examine the role of media in inducing a state of social cohesion. Data were collected from a state-owned newspaper, Al-Ahram, and an independent newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm. Data were also collected from a blog that compiles testimonies of witnesses to the “Maspero” massacre as well as three of Egypt’s best-known online activists: Alaa Abd El Fattah (@alaa), Salma Said (@salmasaid), and Rasha Azab (@RashaPress). The results reveal the themes of print and social media coverage of the events, with the suggestion that social media was much more effective in inducing social cohesion than the print media.

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Coptic Christian practices: formations of sameness and difference

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

The 'Orthodoxy' of Orthodoxy: On Moral Imperfection, Correctness, and Deferral in Religious Worlds

The 'Orthodoxy' of Orthodoxy: On Moral Imperfection, Correctness, and Deferral in Religious Worlds

Incense and holy bread: the sense of belonging through ritual among Middle Eastern Christians in Denmark

Social Media coverage of “Maspero”: Solidarity between Muslims and Christians post The Egyptian Uprising

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