Oxford Armenian Studies - Armenian Religion, Society, Politics

Michaelmas Term 2013 

Dr Hratch Tchilingirian, Oriental Institute

Tues. 28 January 2014 (Week 2), 6:30-8:00 pm, The Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

CHURCH AND STATE RELATIONS

This is the fifth lecture in the lecture series on Armenian Religion, Society, Politics, which will focus on Church and State relations since Armenia's independence.  Despite expectations that the Church would be free of state influence in non-Communist Armenia, Church-State relations have been problematic. The discussion will focus on the process of how the Church was 'rehabilitated', the mutual exploitation of each institution of the other, and some of the main legal and political conflicts in Church-State relations in Armenia today.

  

Tues. 11 February 2014 (Week 4), 6:30-8:00 pm, The Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

CHURCH AND SOCIETY RELATIONS

This lecture will discuss the unprecedented processes of rapid and long-term transitions in virtually all aspects of life in post-Soviet Armenia  — social, political, economic, religious, cultural. Like in other former Soviet republics, the old socio-political boundaries changed in Armenia: a process of social relocation and strengthening of old identity references were quickly in place. Even as the Church was expected to provide much-needed guidance in filling the ideological and spiritual gap left behind by the failure of the Communist ideology, the Church was ill-prepared — in terms of human and material resources — to respond to the growing interest of people in religion and spirituality.

  

Tues. 25 February (Week 6), 6:30-8:00 pm, The Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

DIASPORA POLITICS AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH

More Armenians live outside the Republic of Armenia than inside. For centuries communities in dispersion have been a source of human and financial wealth, prestige, power and political influence for the Armenian Church. This lecture will focus on church and politics in the Diaspora, especially during the Cold War era and its effects on contemporary church-society relations.  Besides the Catholicosate of All Armenians in Ejmiatsin, three of the four Hierarchical Sees of the Armenian Church are located in the Diaspora (Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Turkey) with their own monastic orders, churches and dioceses. Politics and power relations in the Church continue to present many challenges to communities in the Diaspora today.

Tues. 11 March (Week 8), 6:30-8:00 pm, The Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

CHURCH AND RELIGION IN THE DIASPORA: MIDDLE EAST, EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA

This final lecture will focus on issues peculiar to the Diaspora communities and the existing problems in church-politics-society relations.  Even as the Armenian Church’s impact on individual religiosity in Armenia is minimal, the role and function of the church in the geographically dispersed communities of the diaspora is more complex and multilayered. It will conclude with some thoughts on the future prospects in the Diaspora and how in various parts of the world priorities and processes defer in response to local/regional conditions. 

	For further details about these lecture series please contact Dr Hratch Tchilingirian: hratch.tchilingirian@orinst.ox.ac.uk  or  Prof. Theo van Lint, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies: theo.vanlint@orinst.ox.ac.uk Oxford Armenian Studies University of Oxford The Oriental Institute Pusey Lane Oxford, OX1 2LE