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Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs: The
Coptic Orthodox Church, Jill Kamil, London, Canada & USA, Routledge 2002
The many readers who have
benefited over the years from Jill Kamil's excellent guide to the monuments of Coptic
Egypt will now welcome her new book, Christianity
in the Land of the Pharaohs (which might be considered as nothing less than a guide to
the origins and development of the Coptic Orthodox Church). In it, Kamil seeks to explain
the uniqueness of the Coptic Church, how much it has in common with universal
Christianity, and how Coptic monasticism contributed to the development of a nationalistic
consciousness in Egypt.
The astonishing speed with
which Christianity spread in Egypt can be partially explained by the resonance of many of
its elements with the ancient religion that had dominated the imaginations of the
inhabitants of the Valley of the Nile for thousands of years. The most fundamental ancient
Egyptian myth of all, that of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, could be taken as an allegory of
the Holy family. Isis easily equated to Mary, and the similarities between Isis caring for
the infant Horus and the Christian motif of mother and child were obvious. Likewise,
Christian visions of the Last Judgement and entry into Paradise were not new concepts in Egypt.
As Kamil explains, "Thousands of years before Christianity, the Egyptians believed in
judgement of the dead based on ethical values that included a person's right conduct
towards others, towards the gods and towards society" (p270). Even acceptance of the
doctrine of the Trinity, a concept utterly alien to many non-Christian cultures, was made
more acceptable to Egyptians by the ancient practice of grouping deities into triads. Many
other examples could be adduced. Yet, even as the ancient religion provided a receptive
background for Christianity, it subtly imparted distinctly Egyptian qualities to it.
Christianity came early to Egypt.
The sojourn of the Holy Family there and the many places that are associated with their
stay are some of the most cherished traditions of the Coptic Church. Another basic
tradition holds that Christianity was introduced into Egypt by St Mark the Evangelist, who
came to Alexandria during the reign of the emperor Nero, began the process of conversion,
and suffered martyrdom. The number of converts grew rapidly amid changing times that
encouraged the growth and development of Christianity.
Kamil is especially concerned to show that the Coptic Church,
instead of the heretical, schismatic, and
altogether peculiar institution that many outsiders perceive it to have been, was actually
in the mainstream of the development of early Christian orthodoxy, and indeed
contributed strongly to that mainstream. Much of the orthodoxy of Christianity
was hammered out in Egypt -- in the first catechetical schools, which were
established in Alexandria, and in the
bitter theological disputes such as that between Saints Athanasius and Arius over the
nature of Christ or between Cyril I and Nestorius over the nature of Mary. The Nicene
Creed was formulated by Egyptian churchmen. Far from being an exotic, isolated offshoot, Egypt
was a pillar of the early Christian Church.
Interestingly enough, when Kamil turns to
the schism between what became the Coptic Orthodox and the Greek Orthodox Churches, she
interprets it as resulting not primarily from religious issues, and even less from
expressions of cultural and national identity, but from political considerations. There
are areas that might have been explored more fully, for the book is not overly long.
But wishing for more is a response to a
good book. Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs is
concise, well-written, and tastefully and effectively illustrated. It has an engaging
personal quality: "The complex issues that have been raised in this book are coloured
to a large extent by my long exposure to Egyptian society" (p271). Kamil's
contemporary observations, interspersed throughout the book, bring the past to life by
firmly connecting it to the present. Any interested reader who turns to Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs as a guide
to the origins and early development of the Coptic Church will be amply rewarded.
Reviewed by Jason Thompson, author of the definitive biographies of Sir Gardner
Wilkinson and Edward William Lane
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