Early Egyptian Christianity: From its Origins to 451 C.E. (review)

Griggs' thesis is that Christianity in Egypt began as a local expression of the faith different from the mainstream, went through a period of close ties to Catholicism, and then returned to a local expression in Coptic Christianity.

A list of chapter headings indicates the sweep and direction of this work:

The Diffusion of Early Christianity: An Appraisal Early Christianity in Egypt The Emergence of Orthodoxy and Heresy in Egyptian Christianity The Fourth Century: Schisms and Consolidation Autocracy in Christian Egypt and the Separation from Catholicism.

Griggs begins by bringing together, from a variety of sources, what is known about the early history of Christianity in Egypt. In the first and second centuries, Griggs says, the form of Egyptian Christianity was autonomous groups presided over by presbyters. Doctrinally, this local Christianity evidences a broader range of texts and traditions than those found in emerging Catholicism. These included such texts as the Gospel of Thomas, Christian gnostic documents, and so on.

In the late second century, there was an imposition of Catholic ecclesiasticism on the Egyptian church. This led to a tension between the Alexandrian bishops and spokespersons for local Christianity, such as the leaders of the catechetical school. The paradigm for that tension and struggle is the clash between Bishop Demetrius and Origen.

Monasticism, Griggs says, arose in Egypt at least in part as a protest against Catholicism. He defines monasticism as a movement independent of Catholicism, doctrinally as well as in terms of ecclesiastical control. In the fourth and fifth centuries, as a kind of counter-movement, Egyptian monks became allies of the bishop of Alexandria against Constantinople and Antioch. Theophilus, for example, abandoned Origenism in favor of the anti-Origenist stance of the monks. This led to more alienation from the wider church, which continued to follow Origen's teachings.

Finally, the Nestorian controversy and the Council of Chalcedon forced a major confrontation between Egypt and the rest of the church. The bishop of Alexandria opted for unity with the monks, rather than unity with Catholicism. At this point, Griggs says, the separation from mainstream Catholicism had already taken place. The formalizing of the Egyptian Coptic Church was only a matter of time.

One strength of this work is the way Griggs brings together from a variety of sources what is known about the early history of Christianity in Egypt. He makes extensive use of recent archaeological findings, especially documents. On the basis of the texts he argues both that there were biblical texts in Coptic as early as the second century, and that native Christianity (that is, outside Alexandria) may always have been heretical. Other strengths of the book are its portrayals of the efforts of the bishops of Alexandria to tie monasticism to the Catholic church, and of the clashes between Alexandria and the rest of eastern Christendom, particularly Antioch.

One weakness of the book is its outline of the founding of Christianity in Egypt. Griggs says that Egyptian Christianity was different from the beginning, but does not specify what the differences are, except that Egyptian Christianity was autonomous and probably heretical. So much of what Griggs says was Egyptian sounds suspiciously like Jewish Christianity. The importance of Thomas and other Jewish Christian documents in Egypt also suggests the origins of Christianity there were in the large Jewish community and had strong ties to the Jerusalem church. Even the system of church government in Alexandria has ties to Qumran and to the Jerusalem community. Why does Griggs not take what seems to be the logical next step and say that the source of Christianity in Egypt was Jerusalem and the Jewish Christian community?

The same question could be raised about his chapter on monasticism. It is not necessarily true, as Griggs suggests, that monasticism is an Egyptian phenomenon. Monasticism comes out of Jewish Christianity, built on the model of Jesus as a poor, wandering ascetic, and has deep roots in Syria. That...