The Human Being as the Image of God in Fourth-to-Sixth-Century Coptic Texts.

This lecture by Dr. Alberto Camplani, Professor of History of Christianity at the Sapienza University of Rome, will propose a new contextualization of fourth- and fifth-century Egyptian Christian debates about the human being “in the image of God” by locating them within broader intellectual and institutional tensions in the Egyptian church and highlighting the originality of the Coptic contribution. These debates surrounded such issues as the place of God’s image in the human compound, the image’s permanence after the fall of Adam and Eve, the role of the body in higher forms of prayer and mysticism, and the significance of anthropomorphic expressions found in the Bible.

Sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Studies Center.

Light refreshments will be provided.