Watani International

The Coptophile Column

31 August 2003

Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs: The Coptic Orthodox Church, Jill Kamil, London, Canada & USA, Routledge 2002

Jill Kamil has provided us with an important resource for Coptic Studies in her latest book Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs: The Coptic Orthodox Church (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York 0 415 24253 3). She has been an important teacher, for students of Coptic Church history and for those with a more general interest in Egypt’s past and present. Jill Kamil has specialized in Egyptology and related subjects and has lived in Egypt for half a century, marrying into a Coptic Orthodox family.

During many expeditions in the land of Egypt, the present reviewer found her 1984 book The Ancient Egyptians: A Popular Introduction to Life in the Pyramid Age (AUC Press 977 424 051 0) a delight. Our dependence upon her guides to Luxor, Sakkara and Memphis must also be acknowledged. The 1987 Coptic Egypt: History and Guide (AUC Press 977 424 104 5) was also indispensable reading for the ecclesiastical tourist, and perhaps of even more importance for those who were unaware of Egypt‘s Christian Story. Jill Kamil is travel and archaeology editor of Al-Ahram Weekly, a leading English-language newspaper. It is certain that the book under review will continue to confirm the value of her long and careful studies of Egypt in general and of Christian Egypt in particular.

Although it is quite certain that the Coptic laity have been the principal agents in the great Coptic Renaissance of the last century, it is equally important to acknowledge the role of monasticism in the revival. The chapter on Desert Fathers Ancient and Modern is of singular importance, beautifully written and spiritually invigorating. The story of the solitaries in the remote al-Farigh area of the Wadi Rayan in the Western Desert provides a challenge and inspiration for Christians living in the comfort of the West: “They have given up their property, accepted separation from their families, and shunned all contact with the outside world, except for a camel caravan which periodically brings their basic requirements.”

Jill Kamil also examines the role of a monastery in which all work is regarded as a spiritual activity, whether raising scaffolding around buildings, working in the fields, in the kitchen, or in the dispensary, which is staffed by monks including qualified physicians, ophthalmologists, dentists and pharmacists. She refers to one monastery that has a large operating theatre, a separate room for sterilization, dental and eye clinics and its own laboratory. But she believes that it is important to show that the center of monastic life is summarized in the ‘Welcome’ pamphlet provided by the monastery:

“There is a corporate liturgy at 4 a.m. These are the most beautiful moments of the day in the monastery. We have taken care to perfect our liturgical chanting and have been helped by the oldest and most authoritative cantors in the Coptic Church. We attain such harmony in the singing of these melodies that our voices are blended together, expressing the unity of our spirits.” Jill Kamil has captured the authentic voice of spiritual unity in her chapter on the desert fathers of the past and present.

At her sharpest and best, Jill Kamil can be described as the finest   agent provocateur of Coptic Studies. She is always prodding, poking and teasing Coptologists so that they just might yield to her constant challenges concerning the relationship between historic Christianity, Pharaonic monotheism, Gnosticism and traditional Egyptian religious practice. There is a nice moment, at the great Gnostic center on the Gebel el-Tarif,  when the Egyptologist Dr. Labib Habachi (not to be confused with Pahor Labib the Coptologist) tells Jill Kamil: “It is not the lack of unity that should worry you. You should consider that despite the diversity of the sects and texts they were all united in the worship of a common Father, one creator-god. There is a link between Egyptian religious heritage and Christianity, and it lies with Gnostic intercessors.”  

We know that much has been written on this subject, and that much of it is contentious, but an irritant under orthodox (lower case) skin is never a bad thing. In writing about the possibility of Pharaonic monotheism, Jill Kamil is also provocative and thought-provoking. Speculation concerning possible parallels between Pharaonic texts and Christian documents can only be stimulating. If we see a similarity between the temple wall paintings of Isis suckling Horus and a Coptic icon of Our Lady giving her breast to Our Lord it can only widen our horizons.

Continuity can always be traced in Egyptian religious life. Among Egyptians, Muslim or Copt, a sense of the mystical, even magical, remains strong. To cite only one of the examples the author gives us: “They believe in the efficacy of sacred charms for protection, especially against the Evil Eye, and they believe in evil spirits. Faith in the power of patron saints is strong. Egyptians frequently entreat holy men, priests and sheikhs to exorcise these spirits on their behalf.” What Jill Kamil tells us cannot be dismissed lightly by people living in the extreme materialism of the West.

It is sad that the deplorable theological definitions used in this text are lifted from an inadequate website. In fact, the only weaknesses in this fine book are in theology: the inaccurate presentation of the Christological debate between Nestorius and Cyril, the incorrect placing of Chalcedon and Ephesus on a map and the naming of Ossius of Cordoba as Bishop of Ossius.

Jill Kamil has always had this reviewer’s admiration as a guide into the history, heart and mind of Egypt.  The distinguished American papyrologist Dr. Leslie MacCoull has said that a strange paradox ‘hangs over the field of Coptic studies. In any volume of assorted studies on a particular topic in late antiquity or Byzantium, most of the articles are on Constantinople, Syria, Armenia, Gaul, North Africa, and Palestine. Egypt is left off the map, or mentioned only in passing.’ Fortunately, this is no longer the case. The work of Jill Kamil places Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs firmly in the center of the map, and engages us with its wonderful history and its modern existence.  

Reviewed by John H. Watson