The primary goal of ACCOT is to make important primary sources of modern Coptic Orthodox theology available in English. Accordingly, the site contains a constantly growing library of translations and/or English works of Coptic theology. This page provides guidance on how to navigate this library in order to find what you are looking for.
1. Searching ACCOT
There are three ways to search for content on ACCOT:
Site-wide Search: the search bar in the top menu, which is visible at the top of every page throughout the website, will search for a keyword in all content on the site: translations, biographical articles and author profiles.
TextSearch: this page allows you to search for words or phrases exclusively in the primary theological sources on ACCOT (i.e. translations and PDFs). To get to this page from anywhere on the site, go to the top menu and hover the mouse over Texts, then select Search Texts. (For more detailed instructions, see 2. Browsing Texts below). Note that the search function does not search within PDF documents.
Text Search InterfaceTranslations: are translations produced and edited to be published on ACCOT. They are fully searchable, annotated and usually accompanied by PDFs of the Arabic original they are translated from. They also include original Arabic page numbers so that they can easily be cited in academic writing.
PDFs: ACCOT also collects PDFs of already-existing English works of Coptic theology (whether translations or texts originally produced in English). These have not been edited and are (at present) not searchable apart from their titles and tags.
You can browse this library of texts by topic, or by doing a searchand filtering your results by author, date of publication, source or content type:
For instance, adjusting the Year of Publication sliders to 1940 to 1950 will show you all and only texts published between those years. Selecting a magazine from the Source dropdown list will show you all and only texts from that magazine. These search criteria can be combined: e.g. if you specify a date range of 1950–1980 and select Sunday School Magazine from the Source dropdown list, you will see all texts on ACCOT from the Sunday School Magazine published in that time period.
3. Browsing Authors
In most cases, the authors of texts hosted on ACCOT have their own author page, featuring biographical details, a list of their works, a bibliography of secondary studies on them and useful links. There are two main ways to find a particular author’s page on ACCOT:
In the top menu, under the Authors heading, click on Authors A–Z to see an alphabetical list (by last name) of all the author pages on the site.
You can also search and filter author pages by their affiliations and subject areas on the Browse Authors by Category page. For instance, to view all authors associated with the Clerical College, simply select Clerical College from the dropdown list of Affiliation(s).
When viewing a Translation or a PDF, clicking on their photo or their name in the sidebar on the left will take you straight to their author page.
ACCOT also hosts longer form biographical articles written by researchers in contemporary Coptic studies.
4. Other Tools
ACCOT also contains an assortment of other resources for contemporary Coptic studies which can be accessed via the Tools heading in the top menu. These include:
Bibliographies: reference lists of primary and secondary sources relating to various topics in contemporary Coptic studies such as liturgy, spirituality or pastoral theology.
Index of Periodicals: a chronological list of important Coptic magazines and periodicals containing basic information about their chief editors and impact, as well as links to any ACCOT translations of articles from them. This page is designed to help researchers keep track of the dizzying array of Coptic magazines published in the modern period.
Style Guide for Coptic Studies: a style guide with suggestions on how to address problems like citing books with missing publication data, how to render Arabic names in English, etc.
Links: a collection of links to useful websites and projects that may be of interest for researchers of contemporary Coptic studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I print off material from ACCOT for my Sunday School class/Bible study/personal education?
Printing and/or downloading copies of ACCOT materials for classroom and/or personal use is not only permitted but encouraged. However, please bear in mind the policy stated in the Disclaimer: as an academic resource, ACCOT hosts texts from a wide range of Coptic theological writers from the nineteenth century to the present. As such, texts hosted on ACCOT do not necessarily represent the official views the Coptic Orthodox Church. While many texts have been selected for translation based on their theological value, others are provided for their historical value or other reasons of scholarly interest. The reader is therefore encouraged to approach these texts with discretion.
2. Can I republish material from ACCOT on my website/blog or in my book/magazine?
This depends on the text, and while the answer will often be “Yes, absolutely!”, we ask that youseek permission first before republishing any material (Arabic or English) found on ACCOT. Some materials have been provided to us on the explicit condition that they not be reproduced without permission. In many cases, especially for online republication, arrangements can be made fairly easily; we only ask that you consult with ACCOT before publication to make sure.
3. I really want to read translated texts on Topic X but there are none on ACCOT. What can I do about it?
Please contact us! One of ACCOT’s chief goals is to make Arabic texts available to students and researchers who are working on particular topics. We are very happy to receive requests for translations of particular texts or on particular topics, although the timing and possibility of producing translations will depend on a range of factors such as copyright, availability of translators and demand.
4. If found a mistake/typo/broken link. Who can I tell about it?
Please report all errors of this kind, and any suggestion for how to improve ACCOT through our Contact page.
5. I can translate/edit/scan material for ACCOT and want to help! Can I?
ACCOT is only possible through the generous efforts of numerous volunteers and contributors both from within and beyond the walls of academia. Don’t hesitate to get in touchif you are able to help us in any of the following ways:
