Letter from the Editor

Abstract

Letter from the Editor DN. Christopher Sheklian, PHD (bio) It is a pleasure and an honor to introduce this new issue of the St. Nersess Theological Review (SNTR) as the Editor. Fifteen years have passed since the last issue was published, a special number collecting many of the most important pieces by Professor Emeritus Abraham Terian, who also served as a former editor of SNTR. Since 2008 when that issue was released, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary itself has undergone many changes, not the least of which is the move to a beautiful new complex in Armonk, NY. Under the direction of Dean Fr. Mardiros Chevian, the Seminary has had a continuous stream of students living and studying on the new premises. Today, the graduates of St. Nersess Seminary serve as ordained clergy (including four bishops), lay leaders, and Diocesan staff across multiple dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church. As the only Armenian seminary in the Western Hemisphere, all of this activity already positions St. Nersess as one of the premier locations of learning for the worldwide Armenian Church. With the reintroduction of SNTR, now being published by the Catholic University of America Press, the Seminary bolsters its role not only in the educational development of Armenian Christian leaders, but as a center for intellectual activity and discovery related to the deep and rich tradition of Armenian Christianity. These conversations have already been taking place on campus in the last decade: St. Nersess has slowly become an important site for PhD students, postdoctoral scholars, and visiting faculty to pursue their academic research regarding Armenian theology and Christianity broadly. This role, the support of intellectual conversations and research into Armenian Christianity, is symbiotic with, but not reducible to, the educational role of St. Nersess. Just as the Armenian monasteries of old were both sites to train Christian shepherds and engines of Armenian theological development, today St. Nersess Armenian Seminary can and does provide the support for these mutually reinforcing activities. SNTR offers a platform for these conversations to again reach a wider audience. This first “new” issue includes contributions from several [End Page 1] scholars who have been central to both the educational and broader intellectual life of the Seminary in the past decade. First and foremost among those is Dr. Roberta Ervine, who, in addition to serving as Professor of Armenian Christian Studies since 2001, has also been a profound gravitational force, drawing several young scholars and PhD students to the Seminary. Dr. Ervine, who has also previously served as Editor of SNTR, continues her service as Associate Editor. Alongside her as another Associate Editor is Julia Hintlian, a PhD Candidate at Harvard University’s Committee on the Study of Religion, who has often been in residence at St. Nersess. Dr. Jesse Arlen, the inaugural holder of the joint position of Director of the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center/Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Armenian Christian Studies at the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University and a regular instructor on St. Nersess’ campus the past two years, also has an article in this first revived issue. Other contributors and members of the Editorial Board, including myself, have taught or lectured on St. Nersess’ campus. Our goal with SNTR is to bring the dynamic intellectual life of the Seminary into conversation with broader currents in the study of Armenian Christianity. It is, in fact, a dynamic and exciting time for the study of Armenian Christianity around the world. Today, the study of Armenian Christianity encompasses theological discourse undertaken at the traditional sites of Armenian Christian education—the seminaries of the Holy Sees: the Gevorkian Theological Seminary in Etchmiadzin, the Theological Seminary at Antelias, and The Seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as well as the Vaskenian Theological Academy and the Harichavank Turpanjian Theological High School in the Republic of Armenia—the academic study of Armenian theology at universities around the world, and various historical, social scientific, and humanistic research into the world of Armenian Christianity. Vardapets—the learned monks of the Armenian Apostolic Church—and scholars at universities from Los Angeles to Vienna make use of the vast treasury of Armenian theological discourse, shedding new light on its historical and...