Want to keep studying Coptic?
Solidify the concepts you’ve learned in lecture and keep growing your language skills with a wonderful group of dedicated students.
Join the CommunityWeekly Reading Group with Dr. LydiaÂ
The community centers around a weekly, hour-long reading group focused on working through the Gospel of Thomas (and potentially other Coptic reading material).
Review grammar and syntax in real-time.
Discuss the interpretation of the texts.
Practice reading out loud to master Coptic sounds and tones.
In my own personal language learning journey, I find it is helpful to have dedicated reading groups, sessions, and review time scheduled into your week. Reading Coptic exercises the brain and helps to build familiarity of grammar and syntax. Reading—ideally reading in community—is how you build even greater familiarity and competency, solidifying grammar and tricky concepts like conversions and sentence types. Plus, reading with others is a delight! Come for the learning and the fun!
— Dr. Lydia Bremer-McCollum
What Else is Included?
Community Discussion Boards
Gain access to ongoing conversations, focused review questions, and interactive exercises to solidify your learning.
Weekly Resource Spotlight
Every week, your resident Coptic expert will highlight a new digital tool, reading recommendation, or resource.
Build Your Bookshelf
Dive deeper into Coptic linguistics, the history of Egypt, and discover exciting new Coptic literature to read.
Flexible Scheduling
I know you have busy and full lives outside of our digital community! I will do my best to accommodate the various schedules of interested participants. We can rotate the meeting times to maximize diverse participation, or mutually agree upon a stable, recurring time if that works best for everyone.
Meet Your Instructor
Dr. Lydia Bremer-McCollum
Dr. Lydia Bremer-McCollum holds 10+ years of experience reading, translating, and teaching Coptic at Harvard and Princeton Universities.
She is an expert in ancient Christianities, with a special focus on the collection of texts found near Nag Hammadi and Pachomian monastic literature. In 2023-4, she served as a postdoctoral fellow with the digital platform the Coptic Scriptorium. She also runs a weekly open-access online Coptic reading group.
A learning community brought to you by Religion for Breakfast
From Andrew Henry's YouTube channel about the academic study of religion, the Religion Department is an online community for the study of religion. Our classes are engaging, taught by experts, and they accommodate multiple learning styles and schedules.
