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A broad critical history of the transformation of religious thought in Egypt from ancient to modern periods
When a civilization disappears, its heritage does not vanish. It survives in different potentially hybrid forms and becomes part of the legacy of humanity. Religion and the Invisible World is a broad survey of the development and transformation of interrelated forms of invisibility, sanctity, and religious beliefs and rituals in Egypt.
Drawing on forty years of research as an anthropologist, historian, and Egyptologist, el-Sayed el-Aswad shows how concepts of sacredness and invisibility have been core elements in the spiritual transformations in Egypt as embodied in the early pharaonic religion, Egyptian-Hellenistic religion, Christianity, and Islam, and how these practices of spirituality and cosmology cut across many divides of ethnicity, gender, region, religion, language, and social class. He draws on available prior ethnographies and descriptions pointing to the “invisible” world in Egyptian villages and urban settings, including dreams, rituals, trance, bodily practices, and what a century ago were called “survivals.”
By focusing on concepts of invisibility and sanctity, this book provides a holistic understanding of the similarities and differences between religious beliefs and rituals that have existed in different historical epochs in Egypt from the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms to the contemporary world—a span of five thousand years.
"This bold and provocative book is refreshingly clear about the role of religion in society for most Egyptians, Muslim and Christian alike. Few authors are so capable and qualified, to show the implicit shared understandings of Egyptian society from the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, through the Romano-Byzantine epoch, the Islamic conquests, and the contemporary world."—Dale F. Eickelman, Dartmouth College
"A well-researched and cogently argued history of a major concept in the long historical tradition of Egypt, this book does something no other book I have seen does by relating the historical religions in Egypt as transforming spiritualities. The author has an amazing grasp of the relevant references for all the religions that have evolved in Egypt."—Daniel Varisco, American Institute for Yemeni Studies
"In Religion and the Visible World, El-Aswad presents a nuanced interdisciplinary study of sanctity, religious immigration, and the unseen across Egyptian history. Bridging pharaonic, Christian, and Islamic traditions, he offers an important contribution to the anthropology of religion and the study of spiritual continuity and transformation."—Yagoub Al-Kandari, Kuwait University
1. Introduction
2. Research Methods
3. Religion, the Invisible World, and Sanctity in Historical Perspective
4. Polytheism and Monotheism
5. Egyptian Religion and Hellenistic Greek and Roman Cultures
6. Osirian Religion and Christianity
7. Islam in Egypt
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index