Sergio LaPorta

Dr. La Porta received his BA from Columbia University (1994) where he studied in the department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures. During the course of his studies, he also spent a year at the Oriental Institute at Oxford University, England. Subsequently Dr. La Porta studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then pursued his Doctoral degree in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University (2001).

His doctoral thesis was a study with translation of volume III of Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Book of Questions. The thesis demonstrated Tat'ewac'i's familiarity with the corpus of works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite as well as of some Latin sources. Dr. La Porta's current area of interest is in the Armenian monastic culture of the middle ages. More specifically, he has focussed on the impact of the works of Ps.-Dionysius on Armenian theology and mysticism. He is currently preparing an edition and translation of the Armenian scholia on the corpus of works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite.

List of Publications Updated: May 2003 I. Doctoral Dissertation

1) La Porta, S., "'The Theology of the Holy Dionysius,' Volume III of Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Book of Questions: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary," Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2001.

II. Chapters in Collections

2) La Porta, S., "Sophia-Meter: Reconstructing a Gnostic Myth," in The Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. J.D. Turner and A. McGuire, eds. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997, pp. 188-207.

3) La Porta, S., "Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Pilgrimage to Jeursalem," paper read at the Celebration of 30 Years of Armenian Studies at the Hebrew University, 13 April-14 April, 2000, in The Armenians in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, ed. R. Ervine, M. Stone, and N. Stone, Peeters, Leuven: 2002, pp. 97-110.

4) La Porta, S., "To walk in the footsteps of Christ: Grigor Tat'ewac'i's exhortation to pilgrimage," to be published in the proceedings of Two Millennia of Christianity in Jerusalem: The Third International Conference on Christian Heritage, Jerusalem, June 28-30, 2000.

5) La Porta, S., "The Liturgical Imagination of Medieval Armenian Monasticism," to be published in the proceedings of Worship Traditions in Armenian and the Neighboring Christian East, St. Nersess Theological Seminary's Fortieth Anniversary International Symposium, New Rochelle, NY, 26-28 September, 2002.

III. Articles

6) La Porta, S., Tucker, E., and Vaux, B., "Ethnographic Materials from the Muslim Hemshinli," Annual of Armenian Linguistics, vol. 17, 1996, pp. 25-45.

7) La Porta, S., "Concerning Job: Chapter 22 of the Sixth Volume of Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Girk' Harc'manc',"St. Nersess Theological Review, vol. 2, no. 2 (1997), pp. 131-165.

8) La Porta, S., Review of Armenia and the Bible, C. Burchard, ed. Journal for the Society of Armenian Studies, vol. 7, 1997.

9) La Porta, S., "Grigor Tat'ewac'i: His Life and Legacy," Ararat, vol. 39, Spring 1998.

10) La Porta S., Review of C. Cox, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion in Armenia, Journal for the Society of Armenian Studies, vol. 9, 1996, 1997 (1999), pp. 162-164.

11) La Porta, S., "Sorcerers, Witches, and Weasels: Armenian Definitions of the Magical Arts," Revue des ?tudes Arm?niennes, vol. 28 (2001-2002), pp. 171-214.

12) La Porta, S., "A Copy of Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Book of Questions: MS3425 of the Library of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem," co-authored with Mikael Arakelian, Sion, 2002.

13) La Porta, S., "Additional Remarks Concerning 'Man as the Image of God' in Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Book of Questions," St. Nersess Theological Seminary Review, vol. 7 (2002), pp. 67-84.

14) La Porta, S., "The History of the Filioque Controversy in Armenia," to be published in the forthcoming issue of the St. Nersess Theological Seminary Review, 2003.

15) La Porta, S., Review of M. Thierry, Repertoire des Monasteres Armeniens, to be published in the forthcoming issues of the Journal for the Society of Armenian Studies.

IV. Papers Delivered

16) La Porta, S., "Concerning Job: Chapter 22 of the Sixth Volume of Grigor Tat'ewac'i's Girk' Harc'manc'," paper read at Armenia and the Bible, conference held at the Armenian Diocese of New York, May, 1996.

17) La Porta, S., "A Hymn to Myron: Chapter XCIII of the Narek and the Significance of Oil for Grigor Narekac'i," paper read at the Seventh Congress of the International Association of Armenian Studies, Louvain-la-Neuve, September 4-7, 1996.

18) La Porta, S., "On the Road to Ararat: Experiences, Observations, and Reflections," address delivered at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, Belmont, MA, October 16, 1997.

19) La Porta, S., "The Future of Armenian Studies," address delivered at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, Belmont, MA, November 15, 1997.

20) La Porta, S.,"Interfaith Dialogue in Fourteenth-century Armenia: Raymond Martini and Grigor Tat'ewac'i," paper read at the 1998 Regional Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and Catholic Biblical Association, Newton Centre, MA, April 17, 1998.

21) La Porta, S. "Armenian Genocides: Past and Present," paper delivered at "Life After Death: Vitality and Creativity After the Armenian Genocide," Symposium on the Armenian Genocide held at the Hebrew University, Givat Ram, 23 April 2002.

22) La Porta, S., "The Liturgical Imagination of Medieval Armenian Monasticism," paper delivered at Worship Traditions in Armenian and the Neighboring Christian East, St. Nersess Theological Seminary's Fortieth Anniversary International Symposium, New Rochelle, NY, 26-28 September, 2002.

23) La Porta, S., "The Armenian Commentaries on Ps.-Dionysius," paper delivered at the 9th General Conference of the Association Internationale des Etudes Armeniennes, W?rzburg, Germany, 9-12 October, 2002.

24) La Porta, S., "The Paradox of Jews in Armenia," paper delivered at the Center for the Study of Christianity Research Seminar: Cultural Dynamics between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 6 March 2003.

25) La Porta, S., "Will the real (Armenian) Text Please Stand Up?," paper delivered at The Many Faces of Myth: Methods of Handling Variant Versions in Late Antique Culture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9 April, 2003.

26) La Porta, S., "Towards the Light: Daniel Varuzhan (1884-1915)", paper delivered at at An Evening in Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 30 April, 2003.

27) La Porta, S., "Vision in the Narek," paper delivered at the International Conference on the Millennium of St. Gregory of Narek, Armenian Theologian, Poet, and Mystic, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 10-11 October, 2003. To be published in the proceedings of the conference.

28) La Porta, S,, "The State of Research on Armenian Theology after Cilicia (14th-20th centuries)," delivered at the International Workshop of AIEA: Society, Religion, Thought, and Science in Armenia, Venice, Italy, 20-21 October, 2003. To be published in the proceedings of the workshop.