The Invisible Life-worlds of a Coptic Christian

Abstract

This essay presents the life-story of a Coptic Christian between the PlayStation lounge, the coffeehouse and the prison. By taking this constellation as a point of departure, I broadly link such a portrait to overlooked contacts between Coptic Christian youth and the clerical hierarchy of the institution of the Coptic Orthodox Church. While attention is usually given to how Copts experience, negotiate and struggle against the various roles of the Church and its tradition of khidma (service), I investigate Coptic youngsters’ lifeworlds when they wish or have to stay invisible from the Coptic Church’s presumptions of representing its congregants.