St. Nersess Armenian Seminary has announced a pair of online lectures series that will be open to the public this fall.
The first series, meeting from September 1 through October 6, is titled “A Short Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew,” led by Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian. The course will explore the first gospel in the New Testament, discussing issues related to the authorship, dating and intended recipients of Matthew’s gospel.
Listeners will learn about the structure of the gospel, its relationship to the other gospels, and the way episodes uniquely related by Matthew reveal his intention and interpretation of the events in Christ’s life. Bishop Vahan discussion will also shed light on the use of Matthew in the Armenian Church.
The second lecture series, meeting from October 13 through December 1, is titled “An Introduction to Medieval Armenian Poetry, Part I,” led by Dr. Jesse S. Arlen. This two-semester public lecture series will introduce the medieval Armenian poetic tradition, including sharagans, odes, lyrics, laments, poetic prayers, as well as love and wisdom poetry.
After the invention of the Armenian alphabet in the 5th century, the early centuries of Armenian literature are dominated by prose: theological and philosophical treatises, histories, hagiographies, and commentaries. Nevertheless, the premodern Armenian literary tradition also boasts a dazzling array of poetic texts, which are generally less well known to scholars and novices alike. Listeners to the lecture series will receive an introduction to this vast subject. Dr. Arlen will give special attention to the interchange between Armenian and neighboring poetic traditions of the Greeks, Persians, and Arabs.
St. Nersess Seminary’s 2022 Fall Public Lecture Series will meet over the Zoom platform on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. EDT. All classes are open to the public. Click the following link to register in advance.
About the Instructors
Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian is a graduate of St. Nersess Seminary and holds a Ph.D. degree in Biblical Studies from Fordham University. He served as an Eastern Diocesan priest in different parishes until 2009, when he was elected Primate of the Diocese of the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was elected Primate of the Diocese of France. He is currently a professor of Biblical Studies at St. Joseph University in Maine. He has published articles and books in Arabic, Armenian and English. He serves on the editorial board of several theological journals and is the series editor of “The Bible in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches” by Peter Lang Inc.
Dr. Jesse Arlen is the inaugural Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Armenian Christian Studies and Director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center, a recently arranged joint appointment between the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America and Fordham University. He earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles, with a dissertation entitled, “A Window into the Tenth Century: The Life and Literary Works of Anania of Narek.” Dr. Arlen’s research pertains to literature and intellectual history, with attention to asceticism, mysticism, and education in Eastern Christianity and Islam. He is also a published writer of creative prose, poetry, and literary criticism in Western Armenian.