Egyptian Christianity : an historical examination of the belief systems prevalent in Alexandria c.100 B.C.E. - 400 C.E. and their role in the shaping of early Christianity

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This thesis sets out to examine, as far as possible within the constraints of a limited study, thenature of the Christianity professed in the first centuries of the Common Era, by means of anhistorical examination of Egyptian Christianity. The thesis contends that the believers inChrist's teachings, in the first century, were predominantly Jewish, that Christianity did notexist as a developed separate religion until its first formal systematizations commenced in thesecond century, through the prolific writings of the Alexandrians, Clement and Origen. It isnoted that the name Christianity itself was coined for the first time in the second century byIgnatius of Antioch; and that until the fourth century it is more accurate to speak of manyChristianities in view of regional-cultural and interpretative differences where the religion tookroot. The study examines the main religions of the world in which the new religion began toestablish itself, and against which it had to contend for its very survival. Many elements of thesereligions influenced the rituals and formulation of the new religion and are traced throughancient Egyptian religion, the Isis and Serapis cults, Judaism, Gnosticism and Hermeticism.Alexandria, as the intellectual matrix of the Graeco-Roman world, was the key centre in whichthe new religion was formally developed. The thesis argues, therefore, that despite the obscurityof earliest Christianity in view of the dearth of extant sources, the emergent religion wassignificantly Egyptian in formulation, legacy and influence in the world of Late Antiquity. It isargued, in conclusion, that the politics of the West in making Christianity the official religionof the empire, thus centring it henceforth in Rome, effectively effaced the Egyptian roots. Inline with current major research into the earliest centuries of Christianity, the thesis contendsthat while Jerusalem was the spring of the new religion Alexandria, and Egypt as a whole,formed a vital tributary of the river of Christianity which was to flow through the whole world.It is argued that without the Egyptian branch, Christianity would have been a differentphenomenon to what it later became. The legacy of Egyptian Christianity is not only of singularimportance in the development of Christianity but, attracting as it does the continued interest ofcurrent researchers in the historical, papyrological and archaeological fields, it holds alsoconsiderable significance for the study of the history of religions in general, and Christianity inparticular.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University