Incarnational Exodus

As a result of profound regional and global changes, the Coptic Church - the oldest and most predominant Christian tradition of Egypt - faces unprecedented challenges. With the political climate in Egypt growing increasingly intolerant towards a Christian minority, along with the anticipation of financial and religious

opportunity offered in the West, the latter half of the twentieth century produced an environment that led to a slow exodus of Copts from their homeland. With "the earliest Coptic churches established in the North America diaspora...in Toronto (1964), Los Angeles (1969) and in Jersey City (1970),"7 a once culturally and religiously homogenous community began to face the challenges that come along with being immersed in a multi-cultural and pluralistic society. This book offers recommendations for the Coptic Orthodox diaspora in North America by answering the question: How does the incarnational theology of Athanasius of Alexandria in De Incarnatione Verbi and his use of Hosea 11:1 develop our understanding of the incarnational church and its role within the Coptic Orthodox diaspora in North America? This book provides a theological model that allows for equitable assimilation, enculturation, evangelism and mission of the Coptic diaspora, fashioned after the exodus of the Word of God in the Incarnation.