PRESS RELEASE/FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/PRESS RELEASE

For Further Information, please contact:
Ms. Gloria Caudill, Administrator
Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Tel: (734) 763-0622
Email: gcaudill@umich.edu

An International Conference
"The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective"
Held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

An international conference entitled: "The Armenian
Apocalyptic Tradition: a comparative perspective," organized by the
Armenian Studies Program and co-sponsored by nine University of
Michigan institutes, centers and departments, was held at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 16-19 October, 2008. Twenty-three
scholars from Armenia, Bulgaria, Canada, England, France, Georgia,
Israel, Italy, Russia, Sweden and the USA read papers and held
discussions on the Armenian Apocalyptic tradition in a comparative
context. Three presentations visually illustrated the manifestations
of the apocalyptic traditions in Armenian art and architecture.
The idea of a conference on the theme was initially
independently conceived by Kevork B. Bardakjian (University of
Michigan) and Sergio La Porta (Hebrew University of Jerusalem). It
was agreed to hold conferences in both the Hebrew University and the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The first was held in Jerusalem
(2007) and the second followed at Ann Arbor.
Since the Armenian apocalyptic tradition, in the wider context
of the term, has been an inadequately explored realm, both conferences
blazed a trail by covering much ground in the field. The Ann Arbor
conference stressed the comparative aspects of such texts with
groundbreaking accomplishments in some respects. Armenian apocalyptic
literature was reviewed in a wider chronological and thematic range,
and in a comparative fashion, against a background of traditional
apocalyptic literature, highlighted by renowned scholars in the fields
of Jewish, Syriac, Byzantine, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Bulgarian and
Manichaean apocalypticism. The findings of the scholars were
meaningfully supplemented by some most interesting discussions that
contributed considerably to the integration of Armenian into the wider
context of apocalyptic studies. The new light shed on the Armenian
texts accentuated the importance of further and deeper studies into
the standard tradition and its diverse
expressions that go far beyond the traditional confines of the genre,
particularly in the late medieval and early modern as well as the
contemporary eras. Similarly, the conference clearly brought out the
growing significance of apocalypticism as an agent for the genesis of
national identity and underlined the need for new definitions and
approaches by which the apocalyptic worldview might be appreciated as
a phenomenon common to all cultures.
Plans are under way to publish the proceedings as a volume
in English. Prof. Kevork B. Bardakjian was the main convener of the
conference.