Monica Mitri
University of Southern California, Religion, Graduate Student
- Claremont School of Theology, Theology, Graduate StudentThe German University in Cairo, General Management, Graduate Studentadd
- Theology, Orthodox Theology, Eastern Orthodox Theology, Coptic Studies, Theology, Syriac Patrology, Jacob of Serugh, Syriac Christianity, and 17 moreOriental Orthodox theology, Premodern History of Oriental Christianity and Middle Eastern Religious-Cultural Minorities, Middle East History, Middle Eastern Christianity, Liturgy, Middle Eastern Christianity, Late Antiquity, Patristics and Late Antiquity, Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, Organizational Culture, Organizational Learning, Organizational Learning Culture, Organizational Memory, Hofstede's Culture Dimensions, History of Religion, Early Chuch Fathers, Early Church History, Church History, and Medieval Church Historyedit
- As a Coptic scholar of religious history and theology, I seek to bring premodern Middle Eastern Christianity into con... moreAs a Coptic scholar of religious history and theology, I seek to bring premodern Middle Eastern Christianity into conversation with the multiple traditions, theologies and narratives of today’s Christianity. I am especially interested in its lived communal aspects, complex historical narratives, interaction with its Islamic context and visible links to the present.edit
- Lisa Biteledit
This paper experiments with Burton Mack's invitation to rethink how scholars frame the past by examining two discourses in Copto-Arabic studies. First, I present the scholarly discourses of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries about... more
This paper experiments with Burton Mack's invitation to rethink how scholars frame the past by examining two discourses in Copto-Arabic studies. First, I present the scholarly discourses of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries about the medieval Coptic past, and second, I examine how the traditional past is perceived in two medieval Copto-Arabic legal collections. I claim that closely reading these collections reveals the ways that their authors theorized and negotiated the authority of the past. There are marked differences between the two collections-differences that defined their intellectual contributions and their place in the tradition. More broadly, I demonstrate that Mack's invitation to rethink and redescribe our subjects' narratives about themselves can enrich Copto-Arabic scholarship by opening hitherto untapped areas, especially in the sociolegal realm.
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This paper studies Coptic communal identity in early Islamic Egypt by analyzing two hagiographical narratives from the Christian Copto-Arabic text The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria. The narratives relate incidents of sacred... more
This paper studies Coptic communal identity in early Islamic Egypt by analyzing two hagiographical narratives from the Christian Copto-Arabic text The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria. The narratives relate incidents of sacred images that become ‘aggressive’ when they retaliate against insults. Although the relation between religious violence and sacred art has merited much scholarly attention, the focus is usually on humans as the aggressors and sacred art as the victim. The reverse is scarcer, and its rarity means we miss an opportunity to rethink such narratives as communicative modes of rhetoric to be contextually interpreted. Here I argue that these aggressive sacred images were tools of power within a polemic religious discourse aimed at proclaiming divine truth, undergirding it with supernatural power, and ultimately shaping Coptic communal identity around this discourse.
For a PDF of the ahead-of-print edition, please visit: https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/306/docs/15700682_-_Method__Theory_in_the_Study_of_Religion_Then_He_Stabbed_Me_with_a_Spear__Aggressive_Sacred_Images_and_Interreligious_Polemics.pdf
For a PDF of the ahead-of-print edition, please visit: https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/306/docs/15700682_-_Method__Theory_in_the_Study_of_Religion_Then_He_Stabbed_Me_with_a_Spear__Aggressive_Sacred_Images_and_Interreligious_Polemics.pdf
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Review of Mark Swanson's The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641–1517). The Popes of Egypt 2. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2010.
Originally published here: https://readingreligion.org/9781649032461/
Originally published here: https://readingreligion.org/9781649032461/
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In this Arabic lecture, a soteriological reading of Jacob of Serugh's anthropology is proposed and explored.
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An introductory Arabic lecture to Jacob of Serugh, the fifth-sixth century Christian Syriac theologian poet, specifically his life, writing, and relevance.
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Description: In this short interview, Monica Mitri, who has just completed her Master's thesis on St. Jacob of Serugh at Claremont School of Theology, gives us a small taste of the wonderful and masterful poetry of this artistic saint... more
Description:
In this short interview, Monica Mitri, who has just completed her Master's thesis on St. Jacob of Serugh at Claremont School of Theology, gives us a small taste of the wonderful and masterful poetry of this artistic saint and the legacy he leaves.
In this short interview, Monica Mitri, who has just completed her Master's thesis on St. Jacob of Serugh at Claremont School of Theology, gives us a small taste of the wonderful and masterful poetry of this artistic saint and the legacy he leaves.
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Episode Description: It is a spiritual-intellectual delight discovering Mor Jacob of Serugh (451-521 AD) who is known in the Syriac tradition as the 'Flute of the Spirit.” Guest: Monica Mitri (Claremont School of Theology, MA thesis... more
Episode Description:
It is a spiritual-intellectual delight discovering Mor Jacob of Serugh (451-521 AD) who is known in the Syriac tradition as the 'Flute of the Spirit.” Guest: Monica Mitri (Claremont School of Theology, MA thesis entitled, The Great Image: Exploring Jacob of Serugh’s Anthropology in his Soteriology and Mariology). Host: Dr. Saad Michael Saad
It is a spiritual-intellectual delight discovering Mor Jacob of Serugh (451-521 AD) who is known in the Syriac tradition as the 'Flute of the Spirit.” Guest: Monica Mitri (Claremont School of Theology, MA thesis entitled, The Great Image: Exploring Jacob of Serugh’s Anthropology in his Soteriology and Mariology). Host: Dr. Saad Michael Saad
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This paper examines matrimonial law as expressed in the three canon collections of the medieval Coptic Orthodox church - the indigenous Christian church of Egypt - known as nomocanons. I argue that the increased attention these nomocanons... more
This paper examines matrimonial law as expressed in the three canon collections of the medieval Coptic Orthodox church - the indigenous Christian church of Egypt - known as nomocanons. I argue that the increased attention these nomocanons accorded to civil canons in general, and marriage-related canons in particular, portray an increasing anxiety about assimilation in the surrounding Muslim society. The matrimonial laws in these nomocanons thus represent a form of communal identity reclamation and boundary marking negotiated through language and legislation. This study thus examines the three Arabic nomocanons of the medieval Coptic community at a point of adaptation, reclamation, and reformulation.
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Jacob of Serugh and Narsai of Nisibis are known as two of the most prolific theologian poets of the Syriac tradition. Both wrote extensive metrical homilies on Biblical exegesis, doctrinal and theological teaching, proper Christian... more
Jacob of Serugh and Narsai of Nisibis are known as two of the most prolific theologian poets of the Syriac tradition. Both wrote extensive metrical homilies on Biblical exegesis, doctrinal and theological teaching, proper Christian conduct and multiple other topics, many of which were sung as liturgical poetry within their churches.
Although contemporaries in time, tradition and background, Jacob and Narsai differed significantly in theology, and their similarities and differences are evident in their homilies. This paper is a comparative reading of their homilies on the nativity, and reveals parallels in their choice of topics from the nativity event, in their focus on the Magi’s visit (to the exclusion of the shepherds’ visit) and their mournful but prophetic views of the children’s massacre. Their verses on soteriology, Christology and Mariology portray their differences most starkly.
Grounded in the Syriac tradition, these nativity homilies provide a snapshot into the Syriac fifth and sixth centuries theology through the eyes of two of its most prominent theologians: illustrating the then prevailing Christological positions and points of Syriac pride in the Christian narrative.
https://sites.google.com/view/dorushe/paper-abstracts/session-1-jacob-of-serugh/monica-mitri?authuser=0
Although contemporaries in time, tradition and background, Jacob and Narsai differed significantly in theology, and their similarities and differences are evident in their homilies. This paper is a comparative reading of their homilies on the nativity, and reveals parallels in their choice of topics from the nativity event, in their focus on the Magi’s visit (to the exclusion of the shepherds’ visit) and their mournful but prophetic views of the children’s massacre. Their verses on soteriology, Christology and Mariology portray their differences most starkly.
Grounded in the Syriac tradition, these nativity homilies provide a snapshot into the Syriac fifth and sixth centuries theology through the eyes of two of its most prominent theologians: illustrating the then prevailing Christological positions and points of Syriac pride in the Christian narrative.
https://sites.google.com/view/dorushe/paper-abstracts/session-1-jacob-of-serugh/monica-mitri?authuser=0
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In Jacob of Serugh’s prolific corpus, Mary figures prominently. In this essay, I suggest that Jacob’s Mary is a model of anthropological perfection posited as the one unparalleled anthropological model that all Christians should emulate.... more
In Jacob of Serugh’s prolific corpus, Mary figures prominently. In this essay, I suggest that Jacob’s Mary is a model of anthropological perfection posited as the one unparalleled anthropological model that all Christians should emulate. While scholarship on Jacob’s corpus has received increasing scholarly attention focused on the stylistic, Christological aspects, as well as in the scholarship on women in his corpus, his anthropology has received less. This limits our understanding of the relationship between Jacob’s thought and his social context, which pervades his entire corpus. For this reason, reading Jacob’s Mariology as contextualized practical anthropology is valuable for historians and historical theologians, as it clarifies Jacob’s own approach to the doctrinal disputes of his time which he suggested to his audiences and used himself. Attempting to address this lack, this paper studies how Jacob represents Mary as a model of practical anthropology. I argue that, informed by his own Biblical, liturgical, and social context, Jacob presents a Syriac Mary and posits her as the anthropological role model for all Christians.