Religion Major Capstone Projects
All Religion majors complete a major reasearch project. Recent capstone projects completed by Religion majors are listed below.
2011
Katie Nagle, Kristallnacht: A Shift in the Scriptural, Political, and Theological Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Ashley LaMagna, Two Sides to Every Story: The Inside Views on Polygamy and Women's Subordination by Mormon Women
Benjamin Fox, Islamic Medicine: Unity in Practice and Belief
Alison Burchett, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds But Do We Really Need Him? Rethinking the Role of Jesus in Modern Christology
Kyle Sinclair, The Leap of Doubt: Skepticism as a Productive Function of Faith
Brett Haugen, Duty or Fidelity: The Development of Søren Kierkegaard's and Gabriel Marcel's Concepts of the Self and its Relation to the Other
Jason Sipe, Nails, Bullets, and Needles: The Scars of Public Execution across History
Caleb Mattson, Sirach as the Root of Modern Christian Patriarchy
A'Toya Mercer, From Sinner to Saint: Feminist and Womanist Perspectives on the First Lady Eve
Priyanka Mehan, When Heroes Fall and Shadows Rise: Paul Tillich The E! True Hollywood Story
Erin Bugge, Can Icons Save Our Planet? Eastern Orthodox Christianity's Sacramental Stewardship and John Chryssavgis' Consideration of the Earth as an Icon of God
Anna Duke, Redemptive Sacrifice: Honoring the Humanity of Women
Bryan Stiles, Proposing a Theology of Language: A Response to Contemporary Issues of the Vernacular in Greek Orthodox Liturgy
Luke Terwilliger, I'm Going to Die . . . I Know, I'll Start a Journal!: Examining Perpetua's Actions Before Martyrdom
Taylor Hagbo, Death before Death in Sufism and Theravada Buddhism: The Transformation of Self Annihilation
Joe Natwick, JesusCare: The Third Century Christian Response of Free, Mobile, and Accessible Healing for All during the Plague of Cyprian
Lauren Frerichs, They Will Know That We Are Lutheran by Our Lives . . . of Service, Vocation, and Critical Faithfulness: Examining Luther s Core Values in Lutheran Colleges and Universities
2010
Kendra Steiner, Breaking the Mold of Patriarchy: Jesus, the Original Ladies Man
Jamie Williams, Romans 1:26-27: Reading an Ancient Text in the Modern World
Lucia 'Lucy' Myers, Approaches to Scripture Relating to Homosexuality and the Formulation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Social Statement 'Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust'
Katie Schinnell, When Church Became Cheap: A Contextual Study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology of Grace Religion
Allison Low, Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw: A Tillichian Evolutionary Theodicy Affirming the Goodness of God in Light of Evolution's Harsh Realities
Kelsey Hauge, Feminist Theodicy: the Social Consequences of Oppression and the Relationship of Women and God
Whitney Morean, All You Need is Love: The Pivotal Role of Love in Reconciling the Christian-Evolution Debate
Annie Kilgore, Converting Christians to Christianity: Toward an Ecclesiology of Praxis in a World of Destitution and Injustice
Dustin Dixon, Truth in Religion: Experience as Common Ground Among Differing Faiths
Grant Stanaway, Agar, Habermas, and Tillich: on the Eugenic Question and Radical Acceptance
Sean Parshall, Using Q to Unlock John: How Q and Other Early Christian Sources Connect to the Gospel of John
Tyler Gubsch, The Overture of the Redactor: An Investigation into the Authorship of the Johannine Prologue
Erin Milliren, Egyptian Monks and Ethiopian Demons: A Story of Ethno-Political Other-ing in the Writings of the Desert Fathers
Erica 'Aerii' Smith, Christian Revivalism in the 1960s: A Call to Action
Anella Olbertz, The Christian Message Versus the American Dream: A Tillichian Analysis of Christian Self-Help Literature
Justin Boyett, Jewish 'Thought-Form' in the First Century Jesus Movement
Joe Maki, Wellhausen's Dilemma and the Shifts in 20th Century Biblical Studies: From a Theo-Centric to Anthro-Centric Approach Languages and Literatures