Dr Ani Shahinian is an Assistant Professor in Armenian Christian Art and Theology, holding a post in Grace and Paul Shahinian Lectureship, at the St Nersess Armenian Theological Seminary in New York. Dr Shahinian earned her doctorate in History and Theology at the University of Oxford. She holds an M.A. degree in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA, and diplomas in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford. She received her B.A. in Philosophy, Ethics, Public Policy, and Professional Writing from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Her doctoral research addressed the question of Christian martyrdom in the context of political, socio-economic, and ecclesiastical history in Late Medieval Armenia. More broadly, Dr Shahinian's research interests address questions of what it means to be human in a technological age, focusing on virtue-ethics and the freedom of the human will.