Early Christian Studies. Professor Peter Oakes and a research team of Dr Sarah Parkhouse (postdoctoral research fellow in Coptic texts and Egyptian landscape), Dr Jeremy Penner (Rylands Library curator of Coptic manuscripts, among others) and Fr John Saleeb (PhD student, Coptic Orthodox Priest of Llandudno) have won a £5000 John Rylands Research Institute pilot grant for the project, "Exploring the Potential Benefits of Rylands Coptic Manuscripts for the Coptic Community in the UK and Internationally". The John Rylands Library has long held a world-class collection of early Coptic Christian manuscripts from Egypt but it is only in recent decades that a substantial Coptic Orthodox community has developed in the UK. The project aims to enable encounters this autumn between key figures in the UK Coptic community and Rylands Coptic manuscripts, with a view to exploring whether much wider such encounters would be beneficial and viable, both for the Coptic community and for wider public understanding of Coptic culture. Initial objectives will be to identify appropriate Rylands manuscripts, organise Coptic Orthodox visits to the Rylands to see and discuss manuscripts, then evaluate a suitable form and potential funding for an expected follow-on main project which, depending on the results of the pilot, might range from creation of an online resource to organising of a substantial exhibition, possibly including touring to reach some of the much larger Coptic Orthodox communities internationally. Image.
