Gawdat Gabra

Gawdat Gabra is visiting professor of Coptic Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He is also the co-editor-in-chief of the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia. He currently teaches courses at CGU in the following subjects: Coptic Hagiography; Coptic New Testament & Liturgy; Egyptian Christianity, Monasticism, & Islamic Rule; Egypt: Five Millennia of Religious Heritage; and the Coptic Bible.

Gabra received his BA in Egyptian Antiquities from Cairo University and his PhD from Münster University in Germany. He is a former director of the Coptic Museum in Cairo and a member of the board of the Society of Coptic Archaeology.

He has made significant contributions to the Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, a digitized version of the original encyclopedia (an eight-volume paper-bound work with over 2,800 entries). He has contributed entries such as “Saint Pisentius” (co-authored with C. Detlef G. Muller); “Nabis”; “Patape” (co-authored with Rene-Georges Coquin); and “Hajir Idfu.”

Gabra is the author of numerous articles and has authored, co-authored, and edited many books on the literary and material culture of Egyptian Christianity. His most recent publications include Coptic Civilization: Two Thousand Years of Christianity in Egypt (AUC Press, 2014); A Historical Dictionary of the Coptic Church (Scarecrow Press, 2008); The Churches of Egypt (AUC Press, 2007); and The Treasures of Coptic Art in the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo (AUC Press, 2007).