In February, Professor of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion Jim Goehring met Pope Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, near Alexandria, Egypt. Goehring had just presented his paper “The Pachomian Federation in Lower Egypt: The Ties That Bind,” at a symposium sponsored by the St. Mark Foundation for Coptic History Studies. Just days after Goehring and wife Linda LaFave left Egypt, the Islamic State militant group released a video purporting to show the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who had been kidnapped in neighboring Libya. The group accused the Egyptian Christians of being “crusaders,” but Goehring said the men were in Libya not for religious reasons but simply to work. Many Egyptians, Christian and Muslim, have sought employment in oil-rich Libya as the Egyptian economy suffers from a decline in foreign tourism amid political unrest. … [Read more...]