SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

the next uses his megaphone for some startlingly scathing remarks. This becomes more apparent in the second half of the book. The book has a few problems. Its representation of Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty (pgs. 134-36) is at best incomplete. Watson scrutinizes the few comments Fr. Malaty has made regarding Liberation Theology and Black Theology, while failing even to mention the detailed commentaries he has written on almost every book of the Bible. Indeed, Fr. Malaty’s Arabic commentaries on the Old Testament are still the only ones available to the Copts in Egypt. His role as author and authority in the Coptic community should not have been so grossly overlooked. Perhaps most problematic is the author’s conceptual framework. He seems to forward a nationalistic Coptic stance, of which I will only discuss one aspect. The author repeatedly asserts that the Coptic liturgy cannot be translated (pgs 38, 80) and the necessarily Egyptian character of being a “Copt” (pg. 85, 109). The issue here is one of perspective and history. If one is to forward an ethno-linguistic definition of “Copt” a number of problems quickly appear. On linguistic grounds, Origen (whom the author calls a Copt, pgs 11, 121- 128) and St. Dioscorus (among many others) cannot be called “Copts” since neither spoke the

language. And if an Egyptian ethnicity is used as a litmus test, then Ss. Arsanius, Moses the Black (the Ethiopian), and the 62nd Patriarch of Alexandrian Afraham ibn Zar‘ah (a Syrian) do not qualify as “Copts” either. Finally, I forward a number of minor corrections and clarifications. Waqf is misspelled throughout the book as “Wapf.” The use of unfermented wine in the Eucharist (pg 35) is inaccurate; this is certainly not current practice. The reference to “the open coffin” in the middle of church during a funeral (pg 38) has to be understood as an exception rather than the rule. Apart from clerical funerals, almost all funerals in the Coptic Church are closed-casket. Finally, the uniformity of Coptic music is greatly overstated. Variety is a demonstrable fact and not necessarily bad. One has only to attend two separate liturgies at any two Coptic churches (or monasteries) to notice the differences. It is also important to keep in mind that whatever uniformity exists today is greatly aided by the circulation of liturgical audio recordings. Given its shortcomings, Among the Copts is vital reading for anyone dealing with the history and historiography of the Coptic Orthodox Church. University of California, Los Angeles

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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