UH Manoa researcher will direct international project to translate and edit rare Coptic language manuscripts

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Andrew Crislip, (808) 956-4206
Department of Religion
Posted: Feb 20, 2007

HONOLULU - The University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa has received a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to fund document translation, editing and publication of the writings of an Egyptian author who chronicled the life and thought of Christians in fourth and fifth century Egypt.

The grant will be directed by UHM Associate Professor of Religion Andrew Crislip and will involve an international team of leading scholars of Coptic language and literature to produce a comprehensive edition of the works of Shenoute of Atripe. Shenoute administered a federation of Christian monasteries in Egypt from approximately AD 385-465, and during his career composed scores of literary works in the Coptic language — the indigenous language of Egypt — including sermons, treatises and letters.

"The manuscripts have not fared well in the passage of time," Crislip said. "Our task will be to produce a comprehensive collection of Shenoute‘s translated works in an edition assembled in compliance with modern scholarly standards of textual criticism."

The team will conduct its work over the next three years. Other leading scholars of the Coptic language participating in the project are from Yale, Indiana University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Germany‘s University of Muenster and University of Leipzig, University of Rome, the French National Center for Scientific Research, Spain‘s National Research Council and Macquarie University of Australia.

The grant is among the largest awards this year from NEH. It is made under the Endowment‘s Scholarly Editions program.