ADVANCED Coptic

Download the Application Announcement (pdf)

About the course

The Advanced Coptic course introduces participants to Coptic literature through direct readings of original material in the Sahidic dialect (and some closely related dialects). Each class session focuses on a specific Coptic text representative of its genre.

Please note that this is not an introductory grammar course, and as such, a prerequisite is required. Students interested in enrolling in this course must be confident in comprehending simple Coptic texts. A good command of English, the working language of the Summer School, is essential.

There are no required books for this course; all materials related to the Coptic readings will be provided by the instructors.

The Coptic Language Summer School 2025 provides a dynamic learning experience with a combination of online sessions and an in-person residency in Rome.

The in-person residency classes in Rome are flexible and can be attended online. Local students may choose to attend the course in person, whereas non-local students have the option to participate entirely online. The weekly in-person sessions will be livestreamed via Zoom, allowing students who join remotely to actively participate and pose questions during the live feed.

The preferred typology of attendance must be indicated when filling out the registration form.

Online Sessions, May-June 2025

Fri, May 9, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Sebastian Richter (Freie Universität Berlin)

Coptic / ⲧⲙⲛⲧⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ tmntrmkēme 'The Speech of Egyptian People': Domains and Constraints of the Written Vernacular of Egypt in Its Last Millennium (4th to 14th c.)

Fri, May 16, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Alin Suciu (Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen)

Methods of Dating Coptic Literary Manuscripts

Fri, May 23, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Anna Van den Kerchove (Institut Protestant de Théologie de Paris)

Manichaean Kephalaia 101: Some Remarks About Mysteries in Manichaeism

Fri, May 30 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Hugo Lundhaug (Universitetet i Oslo)

Coptic Apocrypha from Nag Hammadi to Edfu and Beyond

Fri, June 6, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Esther Garel (Université de Strasbourg)

Overview on Coptic Papyrology

Fri, June 13, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Anna Van den Kerchove (Institut Protestant de Théologie de Paris)

The Life of Hilarion of Jerome in Coptic

Fri, June 20, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Paola Buzi (Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza")

Coptic Literature as Historical Source: The Case of the Life of Samuel of Qalamun

Fri, June 27, 2025, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom

Heike Behlmer (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Biblical Intertextuality in the Works of Apa John

Instructors

Marta Addessi

Marta Addessi is a Research Fellow and Teaching Assistant in Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Sapienza University of Rome. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the Bohairic Coptic version of Basil of Caesarea's First Homily De ieiunio, with an appendix concerning the transmission in Sahidic Coptic.

Heike Behlmer

Heike Behlmer is the director of the Department of Egyptology and Coptology at the University of Göttingen in Germany, and the Chair of the “Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament Project”.

COSTANZA BIANCHI

Costanza Bianchi is a Junior Fellow at the FSCIRE (Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII) in Bologna. Her research focuses on the Corpus Canonum in its Coptic tradition and translation.

Paola Buzi

Paola Buzi is professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Sapienza University in Rome. She combines historical, literary and codicological interests with archaeological activities. She is principal investigator of the project "Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature". She currently works on behalf of the Akademie der Wissenschfaten zu Göttingen at Hamburg University cataloguing the Coptic manuscripts preserved in the German collections.

Dylan Michael Burns

Dylan Burns is assistant professor of the History of Western Esotericism in Late Antiquity at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Co-editor of Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, his research focuses on ancient Gnosticism, later Greek philosophy, and Manichaeism.

Esther Garel

Esther Garel is Professor in papyrology, Coptic language, and archaeology at the Université de Strasbourg and a researcher at the Archéologie et histoire en Méditerranée et en Europe laboratory. Her research includes deciphering and editing Coptic papyri, which encompass everyday texts such as letters, contracts, and economic documents.

Lance Jenott

Lance Jenott is a Senior Lecturer in Classics and Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis (USA). He also serves as the Director of Religious Studies. He is the author of "The Gospel of Judas: Coptic Text, Translation, and Historical Interpretation of the 'Betrayer's Gospel," and co-author of "The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices."

Gražina Kelmelyte

Gražina Kelmelytė-Ratniece is currently pursuing her PhD at Vilnius University in Lithuania. Her primary research interests lie in the study of early Christian apocrypha and Coptic language. In 2020, she won a grant from the Lithuanian Council for Culture to translate and comment on an anthology of Nag Hammadi Scriptures.

Hugo Lundhaug

Hugo Lundhaug is a Professor of Biblical Reception and Early Christian Literature at the University of Oslo, where he also serves as the Director of the research group Coptic Texts and Manuscripts within the Faculty of Theology. Additionally, he was the Scientific Director of the ATTR Research School (Authoritative Texts and Their Reception) from 2017 to 2020.

Sebastian Richter

Sebastian Richter is currently a professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, specializing in Egyptology. He has served as a co-editor for several prestigious academic journals, including the Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete and the Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. His research interests include the study of ancient Egyptian language, literature, and legal documents.

Jens Schröter

Jens Schröter is professor of New Testament and Ancient Christian Apocrypha at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. His research areas include the historical Jesus, Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the formation of the New Testament canon and the ancient Christian Apocrypha.

Alin Suciu

Alin Suciu is a Senior Researcher at the Göttingen Academy and a docent at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in the literature and history of the Egyptian Church and is the author of "The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir."

Anna Van den Kerchove

Anna Van den Kerchove is holding the chair of ancient church history and Patristics in the Institut Protestant in Paris. Among her principal fields of research are the Hermetic and Valentinian texts of Nag Hammadi and Manichaean texts, particularly those preserved in Coptic.

Lothar Vogel

Lothar Vogel is the Dean of the Waldensian Faculty of Theology, where he teaches Church History. He completed his doctoral thesis in the field of early medieval hagiography. Additionally, he founded and actively promotes the Coptic Studies Working Group at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse