About Art
When I was in college, with double majors in history and Russian studies, I almost decided to become a history professor. But in part upon the advice of my history professor(!) I instead decided to become an international lawyer, and to follow my passions for history, myth, religion, philosophy, depth psychology, and other fascinating subjects in my free time. I had the privilege of doing rewarding international law work for 30 years at the world's largest global law firm, Baker & McKenzie, which enabled me to travel the world and experience its peoples and cultures, not just as objects of study but also at a practical working and personal level with colleagues, clients, relatives (my wife Elena is from Russia), and lasting friends in those places.
When I was in college, with double majors in history and Russian studies, I almost decided to become a history professor. But in part upon the advice of my history professor(!) I instead decided to become an international lawyer, and to follow my passions for history, myth, religion, philosophy, depth psychology, and other fascinating subjects in my free time. I had the privilege of doing rewarding international law work for 30 years at the world's largest global law firm, Baker & McKenzie, which enabled me to travel the world and experience its peoples and cultures, not just as objects of study but also at a practical working and personal level with colleagues, clients, relatives (my wife Elena is from Russia), and lasting friends in those places.
I ended up being able to combine law and my Russian studies background by working in Russia for over 8 years in Moscow and St. Petersburg, beginning when the Soviet Union was collapsing, and I helped that new country's new legal system develop. This Russian experience, together with the fact that Elena hails from St. Petersburg, where I lived and worked for almost 5 years, eventually enabled me to combine my professional work with my passion for writing history, and the result was authoring, together with Elena, what is now regarded as the definitive English-language history of one of the world's most mythical cities, St. Petersburg, Russia; it won a literary prize in Russia in 2005, awarded by a jury of Russian academics. I later contributed a chapter to another history book about St. Petersburg, focusing on important historical events there in the 1990s.
All that time I was also pursuing my interests in ancient cultural history - especially the ancient Near East and Mediterranean - as well as mythology, religion, philosophy, and depth psychology. Serious study meant learning the relevant ancient languages, so in due course I learned ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs), biblical Hebrew, and ancient Greek (both biblical (Koine) and Attic), in addition to my fluent Russian and shaky French. I have more ideas for fascinating books to write on these subjects than I would ever have time to write, but a few years ago Elena and I decided that the first such book should be a "big one" about the foundational and most influential myth in our Western civilization, the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We call it The Mythology of Eden. In 2015 it won 1st prize in the Religion-General Category at the International Book Awards, and earlier was Award-Winning Finalist in the 2014 USA Best Book Awards (Religion-General Category). I'm now doing research for the next two books, which will also be on mythological topics of importance to us in the present day. The first will be about the mythology underlying our seasonal holidays. The other will be about the mythological foundations of Christianity.
In addition to writing books and articles, I also enjoy giving lectures at scholarly conferences as well as informal talks to other groups that share my interests. Recent and upcoming examples are on the Appearances page.
I am passionate about deepening my and my audience's understanding of the interrelationship between cultural history, mythology, religion, and depth psychology in a way that will enrich and benefit our society and our own personal knowledge and spirituality.
When I'm not pursuing such interesting things, I like to enjoy downhill skiing, running, dancing, films, reading, world travel, cooking, and wine (including growing my own vines and making wine). We now have our own wine label, ArLena Wines, entitled after our first names (Art and Lena, the latter being a common shortening of Elena).
All that time I was also pursuing my interests in ancient cultural history - especially the ancient Near East and Mediterranean - as well as mythology, religion, philosophy, and depth psychology. Serious study meant learning the relevant ancient languages, so in due course I learned ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs), biblical Hebrew, and ancient Greek (both biblical (Koine) and Attic), in addition to my fluent Russian and shaky French. I have more ideas for fascinating books to write on these subjects than I would ever have time to write, but a few years ago Elena and I decided that the first such book should be a "big one" about the foundational and most influential myth in our Western civilization, the biblical story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We call it The Mythology of Eden. In 2015 it won 1st prize in the Religion-General Category at the International Book Awards, and earlier was Award-Winning Finalist in the 2014 USA Best Book Awards (Religion-General Category). I'm now doing research for the next two books, which will also be on mythological topics of importance to us in the present day. The first will be about the mythology underlying our seasonal holidays. The other will be about the mythological foundations of Christianity.
In addition to writing books and articles, I also enjoy giving lectures at scholarly conferences as well as informal talks to other groups that share my interests. Recent and upcoming examples are on the Appearances page.
I am passionate about deepening my and my audience's understanding of the interrelationship between cultural history, mythology, religion, and depth psychology in a way that will enrich and benefit our society and our own personal knowledge and spirituality.
When I'm not pursuing such interesting things, I like to enjoy downhill skiing, running, dancing, films, reading, world travel, cooking, and wine (including growing my own vines and making wine). We now have our own wine label, ArLena Wines, entitled after our first names (Art and Lena, the latter being a common shortening of Elena).
