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“With God’s people”: Individual Paths and Communal Belonging at an LGBTQ+ Church

Weber, Michael (2019)

American religious scholarship in the late 20th century identified a supposed cultural shift away from communal authority and towards individual interpretation when it came to religious identity. This thesis examines the ...

A Shul of Their Own: Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and the Struggle to Create Communities for the Marginalized

Silverman, Rachel (2019)

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST) is a non-denominational self-proclaimed synagogue for LGBT people and allies in New York City. It strives to be truly pluralistic and welcome each Jew regardless of their identity, ...

The Fighting Quakers: A New Vision for the Peace Testimony During World War I

Bowen, Christina G. (2019)

The success of the American Quaker response to World War I through the creation of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) facilitated a shift in the Quaker peace testimony from a passive anti-war stance to an active, ...

Conceptualizing Ancient and Contemporary Awakenings: An Analysis of Themes of Social Structures and Individualism in Ancient Gnosis, the New Age, and the Modern Day

Emmert, Ethan (2019)

In this thesis, I analyze the claim that April DeConick makes in The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion From Antiquity to Today that the New Age was inspired by ancient Gnosis. ...

Tracing and Chasing the Shadow: The Mysterious Eloquence of Rabi’a

Jahanbin, Maryam Sophia (2019)

The tradition of Sufi poetry has been analyzed extensively through the well known works of Rumi, Hafiz, Ibn ‘Arabi, Ibn Farid, Al- Ghazali, Farid al-Din ‘Attar, and Sa’adi—among many others. These well-known figures of ...

Religion as a Way of Life: Determining conceptions of religion in the Wisconsin v. Yoder opinions

Ryle, Oona (2019)

The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion, but nowhere in the religion clauses or even in the Constitution does a clear definition of ‘religion’ exist. This poses a problem to justices trying to determine ...

The Future Belongs to the Brave: Some Thoughts on the Fate of Decolonization in Religious Studies

Alejandro, Joseph Mario Burkley (2019)

This senior thesis project contributes to the ongoing conversation surrounding decolonization efforts in the field of religious studies. I argue that scholars, having already devoted much focus to understanding the colonial ...

VISUAL DIMENSIONS IN MIKKYO PURE LAND

Lee, Miles (2018)

This project contributes to recent scholarship in the study of Buddhism that strives to challenge established notions about the relationships between different religious traditions in medieval Japan. In particular, this ...

Broad-based Organizing as a Religious Practice

Kraus, Shirah (2018)

Faith-Based Community Organizations (FBCOs) are important and effective institutions working for progressive change in the United States. Many scholars have researched these groups’ outward successes and challenges while ...

GOD IN THE GUTTER: EXPLORING RELIGIOUS DOUBT THROUGH THE EMOTIONS OF COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS

Levy, James M. (2018)

Comic creators Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, and Miyazaki Hayao focus on intimate, reflective emotion to show religion as an internal struggle. Imagery styles blending sacred and playful elements encourage an engagement with ...

Obama’s Protestant Rhetoric: Race and American Identity in the 2008 Election

Oldstone-Moore, Marilee (2018)

The historic Obama campaign in 2008 hinged on whether prejudice and racism would prevent Obama from being able to successfully win the democratic nomination and the presidency. Because of Obama’s outsider status through ...

A Slippery Matter: Reproduction and a Radical Hierarchy of Gender in the Apocryphon of John

Espinoza, Cristian Eduardo (2018)

In this thesis I argue that the “Gnostic” text the Apocryphon of John expresses a radical hierarchy of gender previously unexplored in this manner. It is unique even among its fellow “Gnostic” texts and its high valuation ...

Digital Bibles: Aesthetics, Experience, and Performativity

Brendel, Justin S. (2018)

This project examines the proliferation and use of digital Bibles. To do so, I address the history of Bible text authority, digital text reading experience, the importance of literacy for digital Bible dissemination, digital ...

On the Eighth Day: Ethics and the Face in Samuel Bak’s Adam and Eve Collection

Chazen, Emily (2018)

Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak has dedicated his life to exploring the intersections of trauma and the human condition through his artwork. Though most scholarship on his paintings has been focused on its implications for ...

Humble Freedom Fighters: Examining Sacred Black Resistance to American Racial Oppression

Macina, Ashley (2017)

There has been a long tradition in Black American culture that documents the history of racial suffering. This tradition can be seen through the cultural markers of Blues music, Negro spirituals, religious culture, and ...

“Everybody Knows ‘She is Mataji:’” The Relationships of Jain Sadhvis as Instruments of Empowerment and Identity Formation

McConnell, K.C. (2016)

Both within and outside of South Asia, sadhvis are revered by Jain laypeople as paragons of the religion’s ascetic imperative. Yet while some might conceive of these renunciant women as unaffected by the nexus of relationships ...

“The Greatest Woman in History since the Mother of God”: Global Catholic Community in Contemporary Efforts to Canonize Isabel of Castile

Grace, Kat (2016)

This paper emerges from a lacuna in the historiography of Isabel of Castile. Numerous studies explore the rituals, art works, and language employed by Isabel’s medieval supporters, by the Queen’s imperial grandson, by ...

Exploring How Diet and Nutrition Redefine Notions of Black Identity, Health, and Gender in the Nation of Islam

Yellets, Jonathan Alexander (2016)

In this thesis, I explore how the Nation of Islam’s dietary regulations are used as an instrument that is intended to reinforce Black gender roles, strengthen camaraderie in a separatist framework, revitalize Black bodies, ...

I Am Who They Want Me to Be: The Extent Portrayals of Moses in Film Document the Fragmentation of Institutionalized Religion in the United States

Santay, Erick (2016)

Over the past few years biblical films have seemingly increased following the release of the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. Since then, topics ranging from the life of Christ to the life of Noah have gone to the box ...

A Winter Count Documents Changes in Identity

Armendariz, Julianne (2016)

The Lakota are an American Indian tribe in South Dakota. Throughout history, the Lakota have faced many changes with the onset of settler colonialism. The Lakota have had to face many changes to their lifestyle, and in ...

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