"Behold, I make all things new." Adaptive Measures for Coptic Orthodox Leadership in the United States

Abstract

This project attempts to delineate the theologies, practices and adaptations that promote the successful integration of Coptic Christian communities into Western society. The purpose of this work is to examine the challenges faced by Coptic-Americans in forming their identities as Copts of the diaspora, and to envision the rationales and methods by which lay and ordained leaders of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States can promote a healthy cultural transition for the Coptic-American communities they serve. The author argues that recent policies of the ecclesial hierarchy in Egypt promote the nationalization of the Coptic Orthodox Church to the detriment of the Coptic youth and young families in the Western diaspora. To justify this claim, this author provides in the first chapter a narrative informed by documented experiences of Coptic-Americans in their struggle to find points of cohesion between their Coptic-Egyptian heritage and their new American identity. The second chapter presents historical precedents of adaptation in the ancient church’s narrative in Egypt across the past two millennia as a model for further traditioned adaptation in the twenty-first century Western context. The third and final chapter will account for an adaptive response theologically as a product of courageous, Spirit-led creativity consistent with the ancient Coptic tradition. Opportunities are presented for Coptic leaders in the United States to employ adaptive methods of leadership as well as institutional forms and practices to facilitate the negotiation of the Coptic-American identity. This project concludes with the assertion that traditioned adaptation is not only possible, but also necessary, for the successful integration of the heritage of first-, second- and third-generation Copts situated in the Western country they now call home.