25th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies July 19-20, 2024

Registration

Schedule

Friday, July 19, 2024

9:00-10:00 a.m.	*Registration*
10:00-10:05a.m.	Opening Remarks by Dr. Solange Ashby (NELC-UCLA)
10:05-10:30 a.m.	Hany N. Takla, A tribute to Prof Dwight W. Young
10:30-11:00 a.m.	Dr. Saad Michael Saad, The State of the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia
11:00-11:15 a.m.	*Break*
11:15-12:00 noon	Prof. David Brakke, Shenoute and Military Men
12:00 noon - 12:45 p.m.	Prof. Janet Timbie, State of Research on Shenoute of Atripe 2019-2024
12:45-1:30 p.m.	*Lunch Recess*
1:30-2:15 p.m.	Prof. Stephen Emmel, Shenoute the Storyteller: The Enigmatic Allegorical Stories in Volume 1 of His Canons
2:15-3:00 p.m.	Dr. Julien Delhez, Shenoute’s Educational Background and Monastic Teachings
3:00-3:15 p.m.	*Break*
3:15-4:00 p.m.	Prof. Caroline Schroeder, New Digital Resources for Bohairic Coptic: A Project Update from Coptic Scriptorium
4:00-4:30 p.m.	Mr, Mina Makar, The Making of the Coptic Literature App.
4:30-5:00 pm	Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef, More liturgical Texts About Saint Shenoute,

Saturday, July 20, 2024

8:30-9:30 a.m.	*Registration*
9:30-10:00 a.m.	Hany N. Takla, Biblical Manuscripts from the Ancient Monastery of St. Shenouda
10:00-10:45 a.m.	Prof. Orlandi, The Pachomian Literature and the Library of Shenoute's Monastery
10:45-11:00 a.m.	*Break*
11:00-11:30 a.m.	Dr. Daniel Girgis, Shenoute’s Procession and the Bohairic Tradition
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 pm	Prof. Stephen Davis, Pigments and Inscriptional Pieties: Coptic Dipinti in the South Hall of the White Monastery Church
12:15 noon - 1:00 p.m.	*Lunch Recess*
1:00-1:45 p.m.	Prof. Heike Behlmer, A Few Observations on Intertextuality in the Works of Apa John, Archimandrite of the White Monastery
1:45-2:30 p.m.	Prof. So Miyagama Stylometric Analysis of Authorship of Pseudo-Shenoute, "On Christian Behaviour": A Pilot Study

2:30-2:45 p.m.	*Break*
2:45-3:30 p.m.	Dr. Lisa Agaiby, A Wonder that was Performed by Our Holy Father the Archimandrite Anbā Shinūdah, by the Hand of Our Father the Patriarch Anbā Mattāʾūs
3:30-4:15 p.m.	Prof, Mark Swanson, Reading The Arabic Life of Shenoute Again for the First Time

4:15-4:30 p.m.	*Break/Pictures*
4:30-5:00 p.m.	Business Meeting of the Members of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society.

Location

Parking Information

Participants

Abstracts

Title: A Wonder that was Performed by Our Holy Father the Archimandrite Anbā Shinūdah, by the Hand of Our Father the Patriarch Anbā Mattāʾūs

Presenter: Dr. Lisa Agaiby (St Athanasius College, University of Divinity, AU)

Abstract:

Mattāʾūs (Matthew) I was the 87th patriarch of Alexandria (1378–1408) and is considered the greatest of the late medieval Coptic patriarchs. His Life is preserved in several manuscripts and was incorporated into the History of the Patriarchs (HP), where it records a number of miracles attributed to him, including one that occurred at the church of Anbā Shinūdah (St. Shenoute) in Old Cairo. The account is a “wonder” attributed to Shinūdah that is recorded in each of the four manuscripts that contain a recension of the Copto-Arabic Life of Anbā Shinūdah at the Red Sea monasteries of St Antony and St Paul.

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Title: A Few Observations on Intertextuality in the Works of Apa John, Archimandrite of the White Monastery

Presenter: Prof. Heike Behlmer (Göttingen University, Germany)

Abstract:

The manuscript tradition of the works of Apa John has been painstakingly reconstructed by Diliana Atanassova, who has also made plausible the identification of this author as one of Shenoute's successors as archimandrite of the White Monastery. As part of a joint project to revise the transcription of the manuscripts transmitting his œuvre and to produce a translation of his works, some interesting aspects of John's use of Biblical and other intertexts have come to light, a selection of which will be presented in this paper.

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Title: Shenoute and Military Men

Presenter: Prof. David Brakke (Ohio State University, OH)

Abstract:

This paper follows up on my talk at last year’s conference by focusing specifically on Shenoute’s relationships with military leaders. We know about these interactions almost entirely through the voice of Shenoute, who emphasizes mutual respect based on a shared interest in leading a moral Christian life in one’s specific circumstances. The success of one such connection can be seen in the dedication of the White Monastery church to Caesarius, comes of the Thebaid, who is known from other sources as well. There were some rocky moments: ecclesiastical politics threatened Shenoute’s relationship with Caesarius, and Shenoute resisted efforts of a Theodosius to look for criminals in the monastery. Dealing with military men was an essential task for a Christian leader in a militarized frontier zone, one at which Shenoute appears to have been remarkably adept.

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Title: Pigments and Inscriptional Pieties: Coptic Dipinti in the South Hall of the White Monastery Church

Presenter: Prof. Stephen Davis (Yale University, CT)

Abstract:

The White Monastery boasts a long history of pious visitation. The study of visitors to the monastery in late antiquity has the subject of attention by Heike Behlmer and others. However, the period of post-late antiquity has often fallen outside the gaze of scholars, except for those interested in the history of early modern Western visitors and the light their accounts shed on the architectural history of the site. Considerably less attention has been given to how the Coptic Orthodox faithful have interacted with the space in medieval and modern times. In this paper, I draw on my work for the Yale Monastic Archaeological Project at the White Monastery in spring 2024, when I recorded surviving Coptic dipinti in the South Hall of the Church of St. Shenoute. This corpus of wall writings serves as important material evidence for Coptic visitation practices and the function of this architectural space.

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Title: Shenoute’s Educational Background and Monastic Teachings

Presenter: Dr. Julien Delhez (Göttingen University, Germany)

Abstract:

Shenoute of Atripe (4^th–5^th cent. AD) is one of the best studied authors of Coptic literature. However, there is still much to be learnt about the education he received in his youth and the teachings he provided to his monks. This presentation is dedicated to these two research questions. I first introduce the existing hypotheses on Shenoute’s educational background, and assess the arguments in favor of, or against, these hypotheses. Then, building upon the surviving works of Shenoute and other Egyptian monastic authors, I present Shenoute’s monastic teachings and discuss in which ways they differ from those of other Egyptian monks of Late Antiquity. The presentation ends with a few suggestions for researchers willing to explore these issues in the future.

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Title: Shenoute the Storyteller: The Enigmatic Allegorical Stories in Volume 1 of His Canons

Presenter: Prof. Dr. Stephen Emmel (University of Münster)

Abstract:

The two works in the first volume of Shenoute the Archimandrite’s Canons are, so far as we know, his oldest surviving writings, written some years before he became leader of his monastery. These two acephalous works (called A27 and A28) have not yet been fully published, but several scholars (myself included) have already described and discussed the events on which the works in Can. 1 are focused, namely Shenoute’s exposure of a group of monks who were engaging in clandestine sexual activity, carnal sin. When Shenoute first informed the then leader of the monastery, a sinless, naive man whom we may call Ebonh, he was chided, and his information was rejected. Shenoute, dejected and depressed, then made his accusations known in writing (A27) to a wider group of monks, including a vow to leave the monastery and withdraw to the solitude of the desert.

When an incident of carnal sin became generally known somewhat later, without Shenoute having revealed it this time, suddenly Shenoute gained a reputation for prophetic insight and rectitude, while Ebonh’s judgment was tarnished and his authority diminished. During this phase of the crisis, Shenoute wrote another “open letter” to the monastic community (A28), in effect saying “I told you so,” and also telling them that even the angels now found them all repulsive, but at the same time feeding an interest that had arisen among his confreres of having him take on a leading role in the monastery. And indeed, when Ebonh died some years later, Shenoute succeeded him as the community’s third leader.

In both works in Can. 1, Shenoute uses—among other rhetorical devices—brief stories that serve to depict allegorically some of the characters and events of the spiritual crisis that led to his rise to authority over the monastery, and in which he saw fundamental lessons for the monastic community’s survival and success in the future. My paper on this occasion concerns this set of stories in A27 and A28. I will try briefly to characterize the entire set of stories in a general way, and then I will use a few specific examples to examine Shenoute’s use of allegory and his purpose in choosing to use this method of storytelling.

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Title: Shenoute’s Procession and the Bohairic Tradition

Presenter: Mr. Daniel Girgis (St. Vladimir Seminary, NY)

Abstract:

This paper seeks to compare contents of the Procession of Apa Shenoute (Paris Copte 68) to a number of elements in the Bohairic tradition of the Coptic Rite. Furthermore, this work will analyze texts that are common to this Upper Egyptian manuscript, the Bohairic psalmodies of the 14th century, and the modern Coptic veneration prayers. Additionally, I will examine how these findings may enhance current understanding of this text and its supposed date. Overall, this presentation will elaborate on the Procession of Apa Shenoute and discuss its relation to the Bohairic Rite.

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Title: The Making of the Coptic Literature App

Presenter: Mr. Mina Makar (ACTS, CA)

Abstract:

Forthcoming

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Title: The Pachomian Literature and the Library of Shenoute's Monastery

Presenter: Prof. Tito Orlandi (University of Rome, Italy)

Abstract:

The publication of the complete collection of the Coptic texts attributed to Pachomius and his successors, Theodorus and Horsiesi, made by Lefort in 1956 (CSCO 159-160) marked an important achievement, both for the field of Coptic literature and that of the study of Monasticism. All subsequent studies on the Pachomian movement depend on Lefort's arrangement of the material. But after that we register:

(a) the discovery of new manuscripts with important documents;

(b) the better understanding of the development of Coptic literature, and the reliability of the attributions found in the titles of the manuscripts;

All this leads to a very different arrangement of the material, including a different appreciation of the texts, and the necessity for a new publication of the entire material.

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Title: Stylometric Analysis of Authorship of Pseudo-Shenoute, "On Christian Behaviour": A Pilot Study

Presenter: Prof. Dr. So Miyagawa (Presenter; University of Tsukuba), Prof Dr. Eliese-Sophia Lincke (co-author; Humboldt Universität zu Berlin), and Prof. Dr. Dr. Heike Behlmer (co-author; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Abstract:

In this pilot study, a stylometric analysis using the 'stylo' package in R, is used to investigate the disputed authorship of the Coptic text "On Christian Behaviour" attributed by the literary tradition and some modern studies to the famous abbot Shenoute of Atripe. The study compares the stylistic features of this text with works by Shenoute considered authentic, and with other texts from the Coptic SCRIPTORIUM corpus. It analyses lexical, syntactic and rhetorical features as well as the use of Greek loan words and biblical quotations. Preliminary findings indicate that "On Christian Behaviour" may differ from the authentic works of Shenoute. This would suggest that the text was not written by Shenoute himself, but by another author (or authors) or based on Shenoute's original writings and heavily altered. Further research will be carried out to determine the authorship of the text more precisely. The study hopes to provide new insights into the authorship and composition of early Coptic literature and demonstrate the usefulness of stylometric methods in clarifying long-standing questions of disputed authorship in historical texts.

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Title: The State of the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia

Presenter: Dr. Saad Michael Saad (CGU, CA)

Abstract:

Since its inauguration in 2012, the web-based Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia (CCE) has attracted 1.3 million views. This is a testimony to its significance as a comprehensive resource for the world to learn about the rich historical, religious, and cultural heritage of the Copts. The CCE covers a wide array of topics including Coptic history, religious experience, ecclesiastics, liturgy, art, architecture, music, language, literature, monasticism, and political life over two millennia. The CCE is digitally housed at the Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL) and the landing page is: https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cce. This paper summarizes the CCE’s current state, activities, and plans, as well as its important transdisciplinary mission. Usage statistics for the CCE show its ongoing impact as a vital scholarly reference for researchers, students, and anyone interested in Coptic heritage.

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Title: New Digital Resources for Bohairic Coptic: A Project Update from Coptic Scriptorium

Presenter: Prof. Caroline T. Schroeder (University of Oklahoma, OK), Hany N. Takla (SSACS, CA), Dr. Nicholas Wagner (Duke University, NC/University of Oklahoma, OK); Prof. Amir Zeldes, Georgetown University, DC)

Abstract:

The Coptic Scriptorium project (https://copticscriptorium.org) is expanding its online, digital resources to include the Bohairic dialect. Coptic Scriptorium currently provides a searchable database of richly annotated Sahidic literature (including many of Shenoute’s writings), as well as natural language processing tools to analyze Sahidic Coptic. This paper will introduce our new open-source tools for Bohairic as well as the open-access Bohairic texts users can read and search. It will address differences between Bohairic and Sahidic that necessitate new tools and will provide demonstrations for how researchers, students, and the general public can use these resources.

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Title: "Reading The Arabic Life of Shenoute Again for the First Time"

Presenter: Professor Mark Swanson (Lutheran School of Theology, IL)

Abstract:

Samuel Moawad’s recent (Dec. 2022) edition of The Arabic Life of Shenoute (freely available for pdf download), with a German translation and various critical and exegetical apparatuses and appendices, is a monument in the study of Arabic Shenoutiana, offering us a huge leap forward from the 1888 Amelineau edition.

In my presentation, I will introduce this critical edition, pointing out some features of particular interest for students of the Life in its various versions. I will then go on to offer some observations about the Arabic Life occasioned by rereading it in this new edition, with the tools that the editor has provided and his precise annotations. These observations may include the ways in which the Arabic Life (in comparison with the Bohairic Life) thickens the intertextual weave through which the saint is interpreted; goes further in promoting a “kinder, gentler” Shenoute (e.g., than the fierce image from which the 14th-century saint Marqus al‑Anṭūnī urged his disciples to flee); continued to be read to visitors (and so is a witness to ongoing pilgrimage to the monastery).

See: Samuel Moawad, Die arabische Version der Vita Sinuthii: Kritische Edition mit annotierter Übersetzung. Wissenschftliche Schriften der WWU Münster, Reihe XII, Band 36. (Hildesheim/Zürich/NewYork: Georg Olms Verlag, 2022). Ebook available for free download at https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ebooks/index.php/series/catalog /book/306.

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Title: A Tribute to the Career of Prof. Dwight W. Young.

Presenter: Mr. Hany N. Takla (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society/ACTS, CA/ SAC, AUS) (CGU, CA)

Abstract:

Prof. Dwight W. Young was born nearly a century ago. Before his retirement, he was one of the early scholars engaged in the study of the writings of St. Shenouda before it became fashionable to do so nowadays. His doctoral dissertation was a pioneering effort to explore the rich grammar found in the writing of our Abbot. Though he personally considered it inadequate, in his time it served as an important beginning for the field of Shenoutian Studies. For about half a century he continued to primarily study, identify, and edit the fragments of the Abbot’s writings. His participation at the 2004 5th UCLA-St. Shenouda Conference put all these writings in context for the audience. This paper will explore the life and the wonderful career of this great scholar. In the near future, we will we working on putting a publication of all his scholarly contributions.

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Title: Coptic Biblical Manuscripts from the Monastery of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite

Presenter: Mr. Hany N. Takla (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society/ACTS, CA/ SAC, AUS)

Abstract:

The Library of the Monastery of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite, or the White Monastery, has yielded the most witnesses to the biblical books of the bible as we know it. Though they are fragmentary as preserved, they give us a glimpse on what the monks monastery have been read in the early medieval times. This paper will survey the state of preservation of these books and explore the character of these survived manuscripts

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Title: State of Research on Shenoute of Atripe 2019-2024

Presenter: Prof. Janet Timbie (CUA, DC)

Abstract:

Due to the delay in the IACS meeting, from 2020 to 2022, more material was presented at the Brussels congress than is usual. This material will be summarized in my talk, while highlighting the most interesting points for the study of Shenoute. Also, several books and articles have been published since the Brussels congress that are relevant for the study of Shenoute (e.g. Volker Menze, Dioscorus of Alexandria).

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Title: More Liturgical Texts about St. Shenoute

Presenter: Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef (St Athanasius College, University of Divinity, AU)

Abstract:

This paper studies and provides the liturgical texts relating to Saint Shenoute in a manuscript from the collection Saint Mercurius known as Aby Sayfin. I will describe the manuscript and highlight the historical context of it. The paper also will give other liturgical texts in a manuscript from the collection of the monastery al-Muharraq.

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Biographs

Dr. Lisa Agaiby: is a lecturer in Coptic Studies and Academic Dean at St Athanasius College, University of Divinity in Melbourne Australia. Her latest publication is, with Tim Vivian, Door of the Wilderness: The Greek, Coptic, and Copto-Arabic Sayings of St Antony of Egypt (Brill, 2021). Lisa is currently heading a project to digitize and catalogue the manuscript collection at the Monastery of St Paul at the Red Sea, Egypt. She is honored to be a fellow member of the St Shenouda Society.

Dr. Solange Ashby received her Ph.D. in Egyptology with a specialization in ancient Egyptian language and Nubian religion from the University of Chicago. Dr. Ashby’s expertise in sacred ancient languages including Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Coptic, Ethiopic, Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew underpins her research into the history of religious transformation in Northeast Africa and the Middle East. Her first book, Calling Out to Isis: The Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae, explores the temple of Philae’s history as a Nubian sacred site. Her current research describes the roles of women – queens, priestesses, mothers – in traditional Nubian religious practices. She is a founding member of the William Leo Hansberry Society which seeks to create pathways for people of African descent – on the continent and in the diaspora – to engage in the study of African antiquity

Prof. Dr. Dr. Heike Behlmer: is Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at the University of Göttingen (since 2009). Previously Senior Lecturer in Coptic Studies at Macquarie University and Visiting Professor of Coptic Studies at the University of Munich. Current research interests: Egyptian Monasticism and the Coptic Bible, Digital Coptic Studies, History of Egyptology and Coptic Studies. Director (together with Frank Feder) of the long-term project of the Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament.

Prof. David Brakke: is the Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of Christianity and Professor of History at Ohio State University (OSU). He received the B.A. in English from the University of Virginia (1983), M.Div. from Harvard University (1986), and Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale University (1992). Before coming to OSU in 2012, he taught for nineteen years in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University, where he was department chair from 2006 to 2011. He has published numerous publications related to early Christian Egypt including Asceticism, Gnosticism, Monasticism, Patristics, and Shenoutian literature. His research has received support from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the National Humanities Center, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is a member of the Board of Consultants of the Journal of Religion and the Advisory Board of the Journal of Early Christian Studies, which he previously edited (2005–2015). He is the vice president of the North American Patristics Society and the immediate past president of the International Association for Coptic Studies (2016–2022).

Prof. Stephen Davis: is Woolsey Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of History at Yale University. He specializes in the history of ancient and medieval Christianity, with a focus on the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. His book publications include The Cult of St Thecla (Oxford UP 1998), The Early Coptic Papacy (AUC Press 2001), Coptic Christology in Practice (Oxford UP 2008), Christ Child (Yale UP 2014), Monasticism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP 2018), and most recently The Gnostic Chapters (Brill 2023), a critical edition and translation of Evagrius Ponticus’ Kephalaia Gnostika in Arabic. Since 2006, he has served as executive director of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project (YMAP), conducting field work and training graduate students principally at three sites in Egypt: the Monastery of John the Little in Wādī al-Naṭrūn, the White Monastery near Sohag, and its federated Women’s Monastery at Atripe. Finally, he is also founding editor of the series Christian Arabic Texts in Translation (CATT; Fordham UP 2019–), and for the past decade he has overseen a project to catalogue the collection of Coptic and Arabic manuscripts at the Monastery of the Syrians in Egypt, with four volumes already published in CSCO Subsidia series (Peeters 2020–), and two more currently in press.

Dr. Julien Delhez: is a postdoctoral researcher at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony (Germany). After studying classics at the University of Liege (Belgium) and ancient oriental languages (including Coptic) at the Université libre de Bruxelles, he moved to Göttingen and completed his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Shenoute’s Education” (supervisors: Heike Behlmer and Alin Suciu). In April 2022, he started working for the DFG project “The Earliest Translations of the Pauline Epistles”. The revised version of his dissertation, Shenoute of Atripe and the Rise of Monastic Education in Egypt, appeared in October 2023.

Prof. Dr. Stephen Emmel: was born in Rochester, New York, 27 June 1952, and earned his B.A. in 1973 from Syracuse University’s department of religion. He began graduate study with James M. Robinson, who took Emmel with him to Egypt in 1974 as a research assistant in the international project to publish the Nag Hammadi Codices. He lived in Egypt 1974–77 in order to complete the conservation of the Nag Hammadi Codices in the Coptic Museum and to assist in their publication. During those years he traveled several times to Jerusalem to meet with the Egyptologist and linguist H. J. Polotsky in order to deepen his knowledge of Coptic grammar.

In 1978 he resumed his graduate study, now with Bentley Layton at Yale University, where in 1980 he discovered a part of Nag Hammadi Codex III in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which had acquired the previously unidentified fragment in 1964 as part of a group of miscellaneous papyri. His first published book was an edition and translation of the Nag Hammadi text The Dialog of the Savior (1984). At about that same time, he became the first scholar to see the Gnostic scripture titled The Gospel of Judas, when it was offered for sale in 1983 in Geneva, Switzerland. When the National Geographic Society was considering a project to fund the conservation and publication of this papyrus manuscript in 2004, he was asked to join its “Codex Advisory Panel,” and he also appeared in the Society’s documentary about their Gospel of Judas project.

He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1993 (department of religious studies, program in the study of ancient Christianity). His doctoral dissertation, “Shenoute's Literary Corpus” (published in 2004), laid the groundwork for his current main research preoccupation, which is an international collaborative project to publish the writings of the ancient Coptic monastic leader Shenoute the Archimandrite (ca. 348–465). In 1996 he was appointed professor of Coptology at the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology at the University of Münster in Germany. During the academic year 2010–11 he was on leave of absence from Münster in order to serve as the first full-time professor of Coptology at the American University in Cairo. He retired from the University of Münster in 2019 but still lives in Germany and continues his Coptological research and writing.

In 1976 he became a charter member of the International Association for Coptic Studies, whose first international congress (Cairo, December 1976) he helped J. M. Robinson to organize. Between 1996 and 2000 he served as the Association’s president, and since 2000 he has been its Secretary. He was a founding editor of the Journal of Coptic Studies (Leuven: Peeters, 1988–2001, with Gerald M. Browne). He is an elected member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome (since 2012) and also the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan (since 2014).

Dr. Daniel Girgis: is an ordained Sub Deacon under the name of Augustine. He received his Master of Arts in Theology degree from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2021. He has also received his PharmD degree from the SUNY University at Buffalo in 2019. His research focuses on preserving Coptic tradition through the combination and reconciliation of both the oral transmission of Coptic chant and the analysis of liturgical manuscripts; using these two factors to identify and restore authentic and proper ritual practice in the Coptic Rite.

Prof Dr. Eliese-Sophia Lincke: serves as Junior Professor for Computational Philology and Data Science of the Languages of the Ancient World at Freie Universität Berlin since May 2022. Eliese's current interests lie in the development of Optical and Handwritten Character Recognition tools for Coptic and the application of computational approaches to the study of ancient languages (Ancient Language Processing). Her academic career includes work as a lexicographer for the DFG-funded project DDGLC at the same university and a fellowship at the Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities. From 2012 to 2022, she was a research associate at the Institute of Archaeology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her doctoral research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin examined Sahidic Coptic prepositions in a typological perspective and was funded by the Excellence Cluster 264 TOPOI

Moallam. Mina Makar: is an ordained Subdeacon in the Coptic Orthodox Church and is a distinguished graduate of the St. Didymus Institute for Cantors in Cairo, Egypt. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Stockton College. Mina has been developing mobile apps for over seven years with a primary focus on Coptic based applications. His notable apps, including the Coptic Bible, Coptic Literature, Coptic Agpeya, and Axios Apps, are available on both the App Store and Google Play Store.

Prof. Dr. So Miyagawa: is an Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba, specializing in Coptic studies, Egyptology, historical linguistics, and digital humanities. His doctoral dissertation from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen focused on biblical quotations in the works of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite. Miyagawa's research centers on the Egyptian language, particularly its final stage, Coptic. He studies Christian texts in Coptic, including biblical translations, monastic literature, and hagiographies from late antique Egypt. His work combines philological and historical approaches with digital methods, including developing natural language processing technologies and corpora for Coptic and other languages. In addition to his academic positions, Miyagawa is actively involved in several digital humanities projects related to Coptic studies, contributing to the field's growth at the intersection of traditional scholarship and modern computational methods.

Dr. S. Michael Saad: is the Managing Editor of the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia and host of Coptic Civilization, a LogosTV program in English and in Arabic via satellite, YouTube, FaceBook, and at logoschannel.com. He has published three book chapters and about 200 writings on modern Coptic history, culture, diaspora, and microwave engineering. He is a Fellow of IEEE and holds eight patents in the United States. These publications are gradually posted at: https://chicago.academia.edu/MichaelSaad. He serves as Chair of the Coptic Studies Council at Claremont Graduate University and Trustee at St Athanasius & St Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School (ACTS) in Los Angeles (actslibrary.org). He is a Founding Board Member of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures. He was a Senior Editor of Watani International(2001-2014) and Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1985-1996). He received an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1987 after a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of London in 1974. Fellow Member of the St. Shenouda Society.

Prof. Carolyn Schroeder: is Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Oklahoma, where she is also a member of the College of Arts and Sciences’ interdisciplinary Data Scholarship Program, Affiliate faculty in History and Religious Studies, and a Fellow at the Data Institute for Societal Challenges. Previously she was Professor of Religious Studies at the University of the Pacific (2007-2019) and served as Director of the Humanities Center there from 2012-2014. She received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2002 under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth A. Clark. She is an author and/or coeditor of multiple monographs and publications in Coptology and digital humanities. She is also co-founded and is a Principal Investigator of the interdisciplinary online research platform Coptic Scriptorium (copticscriptorium.org), which produces digital editions, natural language processing tools, and other digital resources for the study of Coptic literature and the Coptic language A Fellow Member of the Society.

Prof. Mark Swanson: teaches and is director of Advanced Studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. His book The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641-1517) (Cairo/New York: AUC Press, 2010) has recently been re-released in paperback. He is a proud Fellow Member of the St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society.

Hany N. Takla: President of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society and Director of the Coptic Center in Los Angeles. Obtained his MA in Coptic Studies from Macquarie University, Sydney Australia. Part-time Lecturer at the UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department, University of Notre Dame, and other theological institutions. Fellow Member of the Society.

Prof. Janet Timbie: is Adjunct Associate Professor at Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. After undergraduate studies at Stanford University, she completed a doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania (PhD 1979). Since 2002, she has taught in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America, teaching all levels of Coptic language and literature, as well as courses in the history of the Christian Near East. Her areas of interest include Coptic language and literature, the origins of monasticism, and the history of the Christian Near East. Her research focuses on 4th-5th c. Coptic monastic texts, with particular emphasis on the interpretation of scripture in those texts.

Dr. Nicholas Wagner: received his PhD in Religion from Duke in 2021. Nick is currently a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke in the Department of Classical Studies and Department of Religious Studies. His research interests broadly span the cultural history of Judaism and Christianity in the ancient Mediterranean, with a particular focus on ancient books, readers, and reading. Is currently a member of the development team at Coptic Scriptorium

Dr. Youhanna N. Youssef: attained a Ph.D. from the University of Montpellier, France, in 1993, and frequently lectures at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo. He has taught at Stockholm University College Sweden and at Newman Institute in Uppsala Sweden). He was a senior research associate at the Centre for Early Christian Studies at the Australian Catholic University, and a senior research fellow of the Centre for Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne. A prolific writer who has authored a number of publications, his areas of interest include Patristics, Hagiography, Dogmatic Theology, and Christian-Arabic Studies

Prof. Amir Zeldes: received his PhD in General linguistics from Humboldt University, Belin. He is an Associate professor in computational linguistics at Georgetown University, specializing in work on and with corpora, including corpus linguistics studies, building corpora, and creating annotation interfaces and NLP tools that make corpus creation easier. He also runs the Georgetown University Corpus Linguistics lab, Corpling@GU, and he is currently president of the ACL Special Interest Group on Annotation (SIGANN).

His main research interests are in computational models of discourse, above the sentence level: I study "how we construct discourse, given what we want to say". In particular, I have been working on predictive computational models of referentiality and discourse relations. Which entities do we track in conversation? How are they introduced into the discourse and referred back to? How do we recognize discourse relations which signal how a current utterance relates to preceding or subsequent utterances, such as by contrasting with other claims, or supporting them with evidence? How do we signal the main point of a text or a paragraph, and how do we signal supporting information?

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25th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies July 19-20, 2024

25th St. Shenouda-UCLA Conference of Coptic Studies, July 19-20, 2024