Ever since the seven so-called earliest Chinese Christian manuscripts were removed from Dunhuang Cave 17 in 1900 and published by the first generation of scholars, they were quickly recognized... Show moreEver since the seven so-called earliest Chinese Christian manuscripts were removed from Dunhuang Cave 17 in 1900 and published by the first generation of scholars, they were quickly recognized as sources used by the Tang church, an offshoot of the Church of the East that entered China in 635 and allegedly disappeared after 845. This empirical, technical and philological work, however, finds: The putative earliest manuscripts made in the 640s, The Messiah Sutra and On One God, might be the latest sources that were created between 800-1010s. The only two dated sources, Kojima Manuscripts A and B, are modern forgeries. Only two manuscripts, Mysterious Bliss Sutra and Sutra of Origins of Daqin Jingjiao, are actual Tang documents that may be made between 745 and 787. Manuscript P.3847 is the work of post-Tang Christians. All the findings, as a whole, give us food for thought, encouraging us to rethink the traditional historiography of Christianity in China before 1200. It compels us to draw a picture of a local Dunhuang Christian community. It also prompts us to alter our current thinking about the institution known as the Tang church. Moreover, it challenges the present consensus that Christianity was extinguished after 845. Show less
This PhD-dissertation examines the social networks of the bishops Abraham of Hermonthis (ca. 590-621) and Pesynthius of Koptos (599-632) and the nature of their authority. They represented a... Show moreThis PhD-dissertation examines the social networks of the bishops Abraham of Hermonthis (ca. 590-621) and Pesynthius of Koptos (599-632) and the nature of their authority. They represented a relatively new, anti-Chalcedonian church hierarchy, which became the forerunner of the present-day Coptic Orthodox Church. As monk-bishops Abraham and Pesynthius resided in monasteries. Since Abraham was also abbot of the Monastery of St Phoibammon in Western Thebes, he lived there. Pesynthius usually lived in a monastery in the mountain of Tsenti, near modern Naqada, but during the Persian occupation of Egypt he stayed in Western Thebes as well. They fulfilled their office, while being supported by a network that connected eight monastic communities in the districts of Hermonthis and Koptos, but centered on Western Thebes. This book examines how Abraham and Pesynthius contributed to the success of the Theodosian church in the Theban region, the area from Huw almost to Esna, by analyzing their networks and use of authority. By means of a papyrological approach four datasets were prepared for the study of the bishops’ common (Theodosian and Theban) networks in ca. 600-630, their individual networks, and a topographical network, in order to establish the reach of their social ties. Show less
