On Monday, September 4th, I attended the opening session of a lecture series on the doctrine of the Trinity at the main offices of the Alexandria School in Heliopolis. Since my return to Egypt last September, I have heard a great deal about the activities and publication work of the Alexandria School (madrasa al-Iskandariya). The institution was founded in 2009 by Coptic Orthodox leaders mainly from St. Mary’s Monastery (al-Barāmūs) in Wādī Naṭrūn and St. George’s Church (Sporting), Alexandria.  By all accounts, a key leader in the growing movement has been Fr. Seraphim al-Baramosy from St. Mary’s Monastery, who completed graduate studies in Christology at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. Including both educational and publishing sections, the Alexandria School represents one of the most important initiatives in the modern Coptic Orthodox Church which is working to bring traditional Orthodox theology and spirituality into deeper conversation with current questions and modern academic scholarship. It takes its name from the early Christian catechetical school of Alexandria which featured such luminaries as Clement of Alexandria (d.215) and Origen (d.253).

(Mr. Sherif Murad lectures on the Trinity at the headquarters of the Alexandria School on September 4th.)

(Lecture participants browse in the bookstore during a break.) 

The publication of new books and translations is a key focus of the Alexandria School. This includes new books by modern Egyptian authors, such as a new series of biblical commentaries, as well as Arabic translations of early church fathers and modern academic scholarship. For example, they have recently translated Professor James Hoffmeier’s Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2011). I also noticed an Arabic translation of Alvin Plantinga’s Knowledge and Christian Belief (Eerdmans, 2015). 

(Prof. Hoffmeier’s book in Arabic translation.)