Biblical Translation and Christianization in Medieval Nubia

Little is known about the precise nature of Christianity in the Medieval Nubian kingdoms. The opinions about the type of Christian faith and practice in medieval Nubia have always concentrated around pro- and contra-Chalcedonian positions, based on the conditions experienced during the evangelization period of Nubia in the sixth century CE. However, renewed research on the language of the biblical passages and other texts of religious literature extant in Old Nubian has shown that there is a big potential for religious studies’ analyses to elucidate issues of dogma and belief among Medieval Christian Nubians. Based on an analysis of the language, archeology of and through a religious studies approach to the extant Bible fragments in Old Nubian, this publication aims at establishing the rough contours of dogma and faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Nubia, as well as the history of its interactions with Coptic and Byzantine religious authorities and institutions.