From: Stephen Emmel
Date: 9 July 2005
Re: Coptic to be taught again at the University of Toronto, Canada

I have received the pleasant news copied below from Helene Moussa.

Stephen Emmel
emmstel@nwz.uni-muenster.de

The IACS may be interested to know that the first course in Coptic
Studies will start on January 2006 at the University of Toronto as a
result of a donation from St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church. We are
now assisting the University of toronto to seek more funds from other
sources for 5 additional semester courses. Below is the information we
are passing out to friends and colleagues and which will  also shortly
be posted on our website.

University of Toronto offers Coptic Studies Course

For the past couple of years one of the outreach activities of St.
Mark's Coptic Museum's Board has been to be in dialogue with the Near
and Middle Eastern Civilizations Department (NMC) of the University of
Toronto to re-instate Coptic Studies in the course curriculum of the
University. On Monday 20 June, 2005, Abuna Marcos, protopriest and
Chairman of the Museum Board, presented the University of Toronto with
a cheque as part of St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church's contribution
toward the establishment of the first course in "Coptic Language 1" to
be offered winter term 2006. The meeting was held in the office of Dr
Pekka Sinevo, Dean of Advancements. Professor Reilly, Chair of NMC
explained the genesis of this initiative as follows:

"As a department dealing with the languages and cultures of the Near
East/Middle East, NMC has over time established positions in Syriac
Christianity and in Ancient Egypt. At one time Coptic was taught as an
ancillary of the Ancient Egypt program, but Coptic teaching ended as a
result of a huge wave of retirements one decade ago. Today as we
rebuild and restructure our programs, we wish to reintroduce Coptic as
a first step toward expanding our curriculum's coverage of Oriental
Christianity and of complementing the Egyptology curriculum. The
donation from St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church (Scarborough) allows
us to put Coptic back into the course calendar, as a pilot project
that will become a factor in the next round of long-term academic
planning."
As more funds will be available, it is anticipated that students will
be able to study such topics as Coptic history, literature, art,
architecture, monasticism, etc. as elective courses and towards the
formation of future scholars of Coptology.

FOR MORE AND UPDATED INFORMATION ON THIS INITIATIVE VISIT St. Mark's


Coptic Museum website


The University of Toronto's Near and Middle East Civilizations
Department website and posting for the job opening for the above
course: