Amin Royatvand Ghiasvand (Iran/UK)

I am an MSt. student in Classical Armenian. My undergraduate studies were in Theology at Cambridge (Corpus Christi), including a range of papers from scriptural studies, NT Greek and Classical Arabic, to church history, as well as Islamic philosophy, poetry and mysticism. During my studies, I felt there was a vacuum that Syriac could fill, so completed an MSt. in Syriac Studies at Oxford (Balliol).

I am very much interested in how religious traditions have employed philosophy and poetry to convey truths about the world. My undergraduate dissertation concerned the response of Persian-Islamic poet, Attar, to the problem of evil, arguing that it can lead to personal growth and development of virtues at the same time as conveying a metaphysical understanding of God’s actions, providence and foreknowledge, demonstrated through poetry. Perennial issues concerning suffering are also widely debated in contemporary society, often resulting in loss or gain in faith. The Armenian tradition that I am studying is also very rich in responding to such issues, from Eznik of Kolb to Saint Gregory of Narek.

Such studies will hopefully both contribute to the interface between Eastern and Western thought, and add breadth and depth to individual or community responses to perennial mindset challenges.