Summer School: The Coptic Bible and Coptic Literature in the Digital Age

Göttingen – Hamburg July 20 – August 1, 2015

Hosted by:

• Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, University of Göttingen
• Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies, University of Hamburg/Corpus of Coptic Literary Manuscripts (CMCL)

Supported by: VolkswagenStiftung

In cooperation with:

• Göttingen Academy of Sciences, Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament
• Centrum Orbis Orientalis et Occidentalis (CORO), University of Göttingen
• Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities

Public Lectures in Hamburg - NEW VENUE

The public lectures in Hamburg will take place in the University Computing Centre, Schlüterstr. 70, Rm 305, 3rd floor


Introduction

Texts in Coptic (the last stage of the Egyptian language) flourished in Roman-Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt until the Medieval Period. The Coptic Bible, e.g., is one of the earliest and most important translations of the Christian scriptures in Late Antiquity. Monastic and hagiographical texts from Egypt provide the largest contemporaneous source of material about early Christian monasteries.

Coptic texts are fundamental primary sources for diverse scholarly fields: Linguistics, Biblical Studies and Church History, Late Antiquity, Egyptology, Islamic Studies. They are also the heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church, which, together with its local cultural heritage, is under enormous pressure under the current political circumstances in the Middle East.

Recent progress in Digital Humanities methods and tools has introduced a paradigm shift into the field. A number of new digital projects dedicated to the Coptic heritage have sprung up internationally: digital editions of the Coptic Bible and Coptic literary texts are under way as well as projects in digital lexicography and text re-use.

Aims of the Summer School

The integrated approach of the Göttingen/Hamburg summer school with its focus on hands-on workshops is dedicated to train graduate students and junior scholars both in Coptic Biblical Studies and Literature and in Digital Humanities methodologies to prepare them for the opportunities the digital revolution offers to Coptic Studies. 18 participants from 12 countries as far away as Japan and Australia have been selected among 60 applicants. The majority of participants has been generously supported by the VolkswagenStiftung.

Public Lectures in Göttingen

Kulturwissenschaftliches Zentrum (KWZ)
Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14
D-37073 Göttingen

Tuesday (July 21) – KWZ 2.601

9:00 – 10:30 Frank Feder, The Sahidic Version of the Old Testament
13:00 – 14:15 Nathalie Bosson, Textual Criticism of the Coptic Bible
14:30 – 15:45 Nathalie Bosson, Pap. Vat. Copt. 9: The Minor Prophets in Old Bohairic

NEW: additional public lectures Wednesday (July 22) – KWZ 2.601

9:00 – 10:30 Marco Büchler, Introduction into Historical Text Re-use Detection
10:45 – 12:00 Marco Büchler, Problems and Implication of Automatic Text Re-use Detection

Saturday (July 25) – KWZ 2.601

9:00 – 10:30 Alin Suciu: Coptic Manuscripts: Papyrus, Parchment, Paper
10:45 – 12:00 Frank Feder, The Coptic Bible in the "Minor" Dialects

Contact

Email: aegypten@uni-goettingen.de
Phone: +49 551 39 24426