St. Nersess Faculty Are Active During Fall Semester
The seminary’s faculty members have been very active during the Fall semester. In addition to teaching weekly classes and engaging with our students and offering online lectures and workshops to clergy and the public, the faculty also represented the seminary at professional and academic conferences nationally and internationally.
In mid-September, the Society for Armenian Studies marked its 50th anniversary with an International Conference at NAASR and Harvard University. The conference hosted 50 scholars from Europe, Australia, and the United States. SAS president Prof. Christina Maranci bestowed a lifetime achievement award on renowned scholar and St. Nersess Seminary Emeritus Professor, Dr. Abraham Terian. St. Nersess faculty member Dr. Jesse Arlen and former special student Julia Hintlian, currently a Taylor fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., were both present.
Then on October 11, St. Nersess faculty members Prof. Roberta Ervine and Dr. Ani Shahinian joined faculty, staff, board members and friends of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary for a day-long retreat. Facilitated by St. Vladimir’s Compelling Preaching Grant director Fr. Sergius Halvorsen and Fr. Michael E. Connors, C.S.C. of the University of Notre Dame, the retreat was the inaugural event of their grant. “It was inspiring to see the very different approach our fellow seminary is taking to implement the same Compelling Preaching grant that St. Nersess Seminary received,” said Prof. Ervine. “We are grateful to the Lilly Foundation for encouraging each of us to think creatively to meet the very different needs of our specific communities.” Andrew Kayaian, a 2021 seminary graduate and St. Vladimir’s Librarian, was also in attendance.
Prof. Roberta Ervine and Dr. Ani Shahinian were also invited to participate in the inaugural conference of the newly formed Orthodox Canon Law Society of North America. Held on the campus of Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline, MA, October 18-19, the conference brought together scholars and students of canon, law and history to investigate the connections between ecclesiastical canons and society past and present. As part of the panel on Oriental Orthodox canon, Prof. Ervine presented a paper on the “Armenian canons regarding the dissolution of marriage.” In addition to meeting new colleagues and kindred spirits from many institutions, the St. Nersess faculty members were happy to reconnect with Coptic scholar Dr. Mary Ghattas, of Agora University.
