Recent Comps Papers

2020

• Carol Beckett, "The String of Deep Innen: Rites of Passage Events and Festivals in Marking the Passage of Time and Creating Japanese American Buddhist Community in the Incarceration Camps”
• Rachel Chang, "A Life-Affirming Response to Suffering: Bringing Together Nietzsche's Philosophy and Zen Practice"
• Lewis Dayton, “Defining Institutional Ecological Responsibility at Two American Zen Monasteries” 
• Roee Perry, “Politics and Truth: The Influence of Platonism on the Political Theology of Islam and Judaism in the Writings of al-Farabi and Maimonides”
• Stella Ramos, “Why Salmon Matter: Subverting Settler Colonialism in Environmental Justice Scholarship Through a Study of the Seattle Salmon Homecoming Celebration” Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps

2019

• Ellie Alberg , “Feeding the Transnational Orishas: Factors in the Resilience and Adaptability of Santería”
• Naomi Brauner , "Community and Difference: The American Moral Experience - How Love and Solidarity Can Guide Us"
• Franny Hutchins , “American Folk Piety in The Exorcist: The Decline of Organized Religion and the Recovery of Catholic Exorcisms in the United States” Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Lucky Looby , “The Untenability of Ideologies of Purity: Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses as Critique of Khomeini’s Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran”
• Pai Miller , "Hechicería and Hierarchy: Isabel Duarte de la Cruz and Women’s Subversion of Power Through ‘Witchcraft’" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Ivy Salinas , "Charity Reinvisioned: Creating Artistic Bridges between the Sacred and Secular through the Patronage and Creation of Chapel Environments"
• Olivia Tenney , "The Greater Reason: Emotion in the Cultivation of Wisdom - A Nietzschean Critique of Metaphysics Applied to Contemporary Life Philosophy"
• Sophia Vallas , “The Imitatio Game: An Exploration of the Shift from Imitatio Christi to Imitatio Martyri in Christian Martyrdoms”
• Emily West , "Narrating the Royal Kumari: Debates over Agency and Secularism in the Role of a Living Goddess in Nepal”

2018

• Joscelyn Guzman , "Female circumcision among the Gikuyu community: Interrogating the colonial roots of dominant abandonment approaches with the help of critical race theory (CRT)"  Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Max Zimmerman Hornstein , "Contextualizing Christians: Anti-Jewish Rhetoric from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages" 

2017

• Reilly Brown , "What Buddhism Can Bring to Restorative Justice"
• Miriam Hamburger , "Art as Power in an Indigenous Context: Examining Indigenous Art Inside and Outside the Art World"
• Brandon Rodrigues , "New Religious Movements and the Anxiety Over Indoctrination: A Study of Heaven's Gate and Brainwashing"
• Griffin Wynne , "None to Nun No Longer: Diversifying Representations of Women in Thai Buddhism"

2016

• Lisa Chang , "Asian American Youths: The New Face of Campus Ministries"
• Aneesah Ettress , "The Production of Marian Doctrine through an Historical  Interaction of Spatial Elements: A Lefebvrian analysis of the Dormition of Mary"
• Mark Greenberg , "A 'Cultural' Moral Argument for Effective Healthcare within the United States"
• Alex Wolf , "Putting Irony to Work"

2015

• Mary Belen Atyemizian , "Mestiza Subjectivity Guiding Decolonization in Chicana Artistic Renditions of La Virgen de Guadalupe"
• Afrika Bakenra , "Sustainability and Thrivability"
• Shira Danielle Barlas , "Shining the Light on The Hidden Lamp: A Quest for a Comprehensive Sense of Self"
• Zach Buchanan , "Islamic Feminism"
• Kai Foster , "The Art of Juggling Realities"
• Mia Loucks , "An Examination of Advaita Vedanta Philosophy and its Active Employment in Daily Vedanta Ritual"
• Shalini Pace , "The Past Not Present: Milan Kundera, the Question of Czechoslovakian Identity, and the Fear of Forgetting"
• Carlina Perna , "Teresa of Avila and Santeria: The Function of Marginal Space within Religious and Social Reform"
• Alanna Quan , "Fathering in the Image of God: The Performance and Policing of Masculine Ideals in Focus on the Family"  Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Katy Waddell , "Unintended Outcomes: How the 1979 Revolution in Iran Empowered Women and Altered Agency through Higher Education"
• Leah Wolf , "An Analysis of Elie Wiesel's Post-Holocaust Theodicy"

2014

• Aralyn Beaumont ,   "Conditioning Religiosity: How Cookbooks Reflect and Shape Contemporary Mennonite Expressions of Faith"
• Aaron Bernstein , "'She is the Home of Men': Habitation and Woman in Levinas' Ethical Philosophy"
• Faryn Borella , "A Shift in Thinking: Friedrich Nietzsche's Historically Distinct Conceptions of World Structure, Ecstasy, and Music"
• Zabia Colovos , "The Holy Creative: A Study of Empowerment through teh Performance of Interior Scroll"
• Josh Gorlick , "Understanding Julius Goldwater's involvement with the Little Tokyo Community: A Perspective on Japanese-American Buddhist Ethnic, Religious, and National Identity"
• Hannah Hall , "A Feminist Bioethics Look at Latin@ Conceptions of the Self and Health and their Ability to Access Health Care in Southern California" 
• Brian Holtvedt , "'Questioning Builds a Way': The Possibility of Freedom in Heidegger's Thought"
• Jordan Jordan , "Shifting Representations: A Close Look at Orientalist and Progressive Scholarship on Pre-Islamic Women"
• Momoko Matsuda , "Turkey's State-Hired Female Preachers: Assertions of Muslim and Feminist Identities in Modern Turkey"
• Grace O'Hara , "Culpable Eve: A Gendered Reading of the Fall and its Portrayals in Early Christian Theology and Medieval Art"
• Zia Rutledge , "Los Hermanos Penitentes: A Study of New Mexican Folks Religion"
• Nick Wright , "Native American Religious Freedom versus Property Rights: A Case Study of the Gabrielino-Tongva and the Sacred Site Puvungna"  Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps

2013

• Marah Bragdon , “Charisma, Religion and Politics: Billy Graham and Imam Khomeini’s Incorporation of Religious Traditions and Political Action"
• David Cole , “A chromatic linguistics, towards a literal philosophy of language (Or, how to have an idea and not just a correct one)" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Brian Cropper , “Narrative strategies shared between Islam and Christianity: Reclaiming a Historical Multi-Religiosity through Textual Interdependence"
• Natalie Malter , “Celebrating 125 years of ‘Earnest Inquiry’: The Legacy of the Gifford Lections on Religion, Science, and Natural Theology"
• Morgan Rutter , “Electronic Evangelicalism: Entertaining or Mere Entertainment?"

2012

• Margot Clifford , “The Irrelevance of Inequality: Reframing Women’s Liberation in Egypt through Saba Mahmood’s Politics of Piety"  Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Robert Deans , “Nietzsche, Philosophy & Mythology: The role of myth in Nietzsche’s Brith of Tragedy"
• Elana Freeman , “Emptying the Path of Awakening"
• Kaitlin Kelly , “The Technology of Womanhood: The intersection of Iranian gender reassignment surgery, Heidegger, and Dworkin"
• Max Levine , “Dying in the Open: Love and the Ethical in Judaism and Post-Modernity"
• Andrea Loh, “Jewish Theological Responses to God After the Holocaust: The Evaluation of God’s Nature and God’s Actions"
• Lily Rowen , “The Evolution of Buddhism and ‘Religion’ in Ireland"  Awarded the Kairos award for Best Senior Religious Studies Comps
• Lindsey Streeter, “Abd-al-Rahmann III, Francisco Franco, and Alfarabi: An Account of Religion and its Role Within the Spanish Political Arena"
• Krishnaveni Subbiah, “Issues Surrounding Hindu Arranged Marriages in India: Is there a solution?"

2011

• Jeff Eamon , “Antiterrorist Financing Policies’ Impact on Islamic Charitable Giving and the Reshaping of American Muslim Identity" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Agne Jomantaite , “On the Concept of Hospitality: Thinking with Kant, Schmitt, Levinas, and Derrida" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Amelia Frey , “All Hail the King of Pop"
• Kayla Furman , “God and Nature in Kabbalah: Impervious or Vulnerable to Disruption?"
• Emma LaFleur , “The Location of the Land of Topsy-Turvey: the Japanese and theJesuits in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Aaron Landman , “An Exegesis of Sayyid Qutb’s Historical Methodology as Articulated in Milestones"
• Emily Long , “Pure Sex: The sexualization of virgins in Christianity as a means to affirm patriarchy"
• Natalie Monterrosa , “Highlighting Difference and Sustaining Conflict: The Rhetoric of Storytelling in Northern Ireland During ‘The Troubles’"
• Akasham Pace , “The Unfinished Work of Photography"
• Emily Painter , “Obesity: Weight Beyond Body"
• Ian Powell , “Hearts versus Minds: Struggles between Scientific Atheism and Religion in the Soviet Union, 1917-1990"
• Rob Riccardi , Untitled or “The Rise of Western Zen and the Emergence of American Environmental Consciousness in the 1960’s" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Thomas Rodrigues , “‘All Communication Participates in Suicide’: A Bataillean Investigation of Charity" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps

2010

• Rachel Deitch , “Behind the Religious: An Examination of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Charismatic Authority in the Islamic Revolution"
• Hannah Dreitcer , “Embracing a New Spirit: Resistance and Gender in the Development of Indigenous South African Christianities"
• Joe Hernandez , “Heidegger and Thinking: Recollecting the Divine"
• Riley Hooper , “In the Native Landscape is the Preservation of the World: A Look at Worldviews of Nature through the lens of the American Lawn"
• Harrison Taylor , “God in a Mall, Eternity in a Bottle: A Study of Consumerism and American Religion"
• Alex Wolf , “On Redemption – A Genealogy in Five Parts"

2009

• Erin Conley , “Battle of the Sexes: Re-evaluating Women’s Leadership Role in Christian History"
• Mallory Nezam , “The Sacred and the Ugly: The limitations and implications of the intersection of secular and sacred perspectives on pollution in the river Ganga"
• Jacqueline Herrlin , “Do-it-Yourself Islam: PuNk RocK as a Means of Cultural Adaptation for Muslims in the West"
• Maya Varga , “Feeding the Soul: Reconciling Christian Faith with Overeating"
• Ahuva Zaches , “CONCESSIONS" or “The Relationship Between Sexuality and the Pursuit of Holiness: A Comparative Exploration of Virginity, Marriage, and Contraception in Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Judaism"

2008

• Ryan Bowen , “The Ethics of Santería: Spiritual Resistance to Oppression in the Americas"
• Kevin Chaves , “Through Religion to Being and Time: Uncovering the Religious Foundations of Heidegger’s Authenticity" Awarded the Kairos award for Best Religious Studies Comps
• Nathaniel Crawford , “Jane Leade: Envisioning a Divine Feminine Order"
• Pete Delgado , “The Role of Women in Puritan Society"
• Brooke Holmes , “The First Amendment—A Historical Analysis of the Political, Social, and Judicial Climates that Continue to Shape Religious Freedom"
• Katie Osborne , “Christian Ethics: Woman and Abuse"
• Jeff Pecaro , “A Critique of Politics and Amnesia in Bio-Atheism"
• Jessica Rutiz , “For Jesus? Defining a Jewish Identity in 21st century America"
• Nathan Schradle , “Reclaiming the ‘Mystery’: A New Philosophical Paradigm for Understanding the Mysteries of Mithras"
• Sophia Simonian , “The Impact of Religion during Teenage Development"
• Amanda Tonkovich , “Imagining Jesus: Power of the Icon"

2007

• Sam Betty , “Beyond Life: America’s Infatuation with the Near Death Experience and the Afterlife"
• Leah Concannon , “[Divine] Justice: From the Gallows to the Penitentiary"
• Noah Glusenkamp , “Naturalized Karma and Naturalized Rebirth: Towards an Understanding of Food and Future"
• Eric Haynie , “Developing an Understanding of Love and Compassion in Contemporary Religious Thought"
• Whitney Lewis , “Spiritual Poverty and Righteous Revolution: Liberation Theology an the Process of Critical Reflection"
• Sam Mowe , “Wandering and Pilgrimage in the Buddhist Tradition"
• Ben Swift , “Christianity and the Construction fo Race within the American Identity"

2006

• Simyona Bryant , “Martin Luther King Jr.: A Faithful Advocate of Nonviolent Revolution for the Disinherited"
• Timothy Maes , “A New Piety: Historically Locating the Contemporary Megachurch"
• Rebecca Shellock , “A Reformation of Femininity: Hildegard of Bingen’s Redefinition of the Feminine in her Texts, Art, and Life"
• Sam Sinkin , “Fundamental Change: A Re-Evaluation of Existence, Truth, and the Way Through the Five Mindfulness Trainings"

2005

• Julian Allen , “No Longer a ‘So-Called Negro’: The Creation and Development of the Nation of Islam’s Black Muslim Identity"
• Tycho Bergquist , “Religion and Spirituality: The Natural Tie of Mainstream and Avant-Garde Music Toward Social Progress"
• Erica Booth , “Death and The Afterlife: A Comparative Analysis of Buddhist and Christian Thought"
• Lauren Constancio , “Contemporary Bioethics from a Buddhist Perspective"
• Ana María Garay , “The Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death and Glory: Exploring the Dimensions of Death and the Virgin Mary as Symbols of Freedom for an Afro-Brazilian Confraternity"
• Heather Kanny , “Islamism and Social Justice in Egypt: The Rise of Ikhwan and the Simultaneous Creation of an Islamic Transnational Identity"
• Stephanie Langlais , “Compromising through Translation"
• Colin Maloney , “The Emergence of Christianity and the Baha’i Faith"
• Dallin Wilson , “From Qumran to Cumorah: Sources of Latter-Day Saint Attraction to the Dead Sea Scrolls"