SENIOR THESIS

The Senior Thesis is the culminating work of students majoring in Christian Studies, Religious Studies, and Philosophy. , or Theology. It will normally be done in the final year of study. The work can be done in one semester (411) for one full credit, or extended over two (410, 412) for 1/2 credit each semester.

The purpose of the thesis is to utilize the perspective, understanding, research skills, and writing abilities students have developed in their studies to investigate a substantial topic. The goal is for students to produce a paper of high quality and distinction.

SENIOR THESES FOR 2021

Reilly Bird (Philosophy)
A Bite at Affordable Dental Care in Canada: The Ethical Arguments for and Against Universal Dental Care
Dr. Peterson

Wilson Ey (Philosophy)
Plato's Craftman
Dr. Zorn

Katherine Gattuso (Christian Studies)
The Human Notion of Injustice Explored Along with God's Justice: How God has been Consistent Since the Beginning of Time
Dr. Trexler

Emilee O’Dell (Religious Studies)
Black Lives Matter Movement: The Value of Black Life as Sacred and Religious
Dr. Trexler

Hannah Smith (Religious Studies)
Apocalyptic Warriors: A New and Improved Wave of Christian Nationalism
Dr. Trexler

Kelly Talish (Religious Studies)
Dr. Larson-Harris

SENIOR THESES FOR 2020

Cara Anderson (Christian Studies and Religious Studies)
Comparing Martyrs: A Defense of Martyrdom
Dr. Hinlicky and Dr. Trexler

Alexa Chapman (Philosophy)
The Becoming Dragon of Fossils
Dr. Adkins

Aubrey Frabutt (Philosophy)
Zeno's Paradoxes: Ancient and Contemporary Responses
Dr. Zorn

Cassie Lindenfelt (Religious Studies)
Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Rise of Bloodless Medicine
Dr. Trexler

Kathleen Hall (Philosophy)
Nietzsche and Camus: The Philosophy of Overcoming
Dr. Adkins

Paul Martin (Religious Studies)
Virtual Faiths: Religious Traditions in Video Games
Dr. Larson-Harris

Johnson Mihaly (Philosophy)
Frayed Edges: How the Contest Between Neoliberalism and Sovereignty Unfolds in Border Policy
Dr. Adkins

Joseph Montalvo III (Philosophy)
One with the Force: Marcus Aurelius and the Jedi Way of Life
Dr. Zorn

SENIOR THESES FOR 2019

Sasha Bronder (Religious Studies)
Sexuality and the Sacred: How Generation Impacts LGBTQ+ Approaches to Religion and Spirituality
Dr. Trexler

Jacob Joyce (Philosophy)
Determining History or Ending History? A Brief Introduction to Understanding Hegel’s Historical Metaphysic of Moments in the Phenomenology of Spirit
Dr. Adkins

Matthew McKinney (Christian Studies and Religious Studies)
King's Moses: The Biblical-Narrative Theology of Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. Hinlicky

Hannah Schneider (Philosophy)
The “one life” that “rolls through all things”: Nature, Philosophy, and Perception in Spinoza, Coleridge, and Wordsworth
Dr. Adkins

Emily Sheppard (Religious Studies and Christian Studies)
The Intersectionality of the Disciples of Christ Church and the LGBT+ Community: Inclusivity at the Lord’s Table
Dr. Trexler

Hana Smith (Philosophy)
Bodies in Nature: Spinoza’s Interconnected Individuals
Dr. Adkins

Marsden Woddail (Philosophy)
Nietzsche’s “Pale Criminal”: Bad Conscience and Sublimation
Dr. Adkins

SENIOR THESES FOR 2018

Brandon Croci (Philosophy)
A Davidson Critique: Discussing Intentional Manipulation of the Principle of Charity
Dr. Zorn

Gabriel Gibson (Philosophy)
Depression
Dr. Adkins

Emily Grice (Philosophy)
On Perspectivism: Leibniz and Nietzsche
Dr. Adkins

Madison Haley (Philosophy)
Is Sisyphus Happy After All?
Dr. Adkins

Caleb Lythgoe (Christian Studies)
The Misconception of the Predestination of Believers: A Study of Individualism Versus Community Based Salvation
Dr. Hinlicky

Kelly Makowske (Philosophy)
The Physicalism found in Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Language
Dr. Zorn

Hayley Moe (Religious Studies)
Authority of Women in the Church: Examining Female Ordained Ministry within two Lutheran Traditions in the Christian Church
Dr. Hinlicky

Patrick Stone (Philosophy)
Nietzsche and the Reality of Love
Dr. Adkins

Leah Weinstein (Religious Studies)
A Wounded Faith: The Existence of God After the Holocaust from a Jewish Perspective with a Focus on Human Freedom and Divine Justice
Dr. Hinlicky

SENIOR THESES FOR 2017

Jamie Allen (Philosophy)
Practically and Philosophically, Why Eradicate the Death Penalty in the United States?
Dr. Adkins

Amanda Downs (Religious Studies)
Teaching about Religion: Public School Education
Dr. Wisnefske

Luke Hägele (Philosophy)
A Long and Lustrous Winter: Nietzsche’s Philosophy in Groundhog Day and 2001: A Space Odyssey
Dr. Adkins

Bridget Rose (Philosophy)
The Necessity of Moral Discourse: Plato’s Political Philosophy and Its Applications to Contemporary Democracy
Dr. Zorn

Zachary Wright (Christian Studies)
The Misuse of Martin Luther's Doctrine on Vocation: From Luther to Weber to Roanoke College back to Luther
Dr. Hinlicky

SENIOR THESES FOR 2016

Danielle Bosdell (Christian Studies)
Truth Behind the Collar: Historical Analysis on the understandings of ELCA female clergy since 1970
Dr. Wisnefske

Ben Cowgill (Religious Studies)
Effects of Participation in Denominational Governance on religiosity among Youth and Young Adults
Dr. Wisnefske

Bridget Gautieri (Religious Studies)
Lutheran and Catholic Theology on the Eucharist with a Focus on Worthiness and Reception
Dr. Hinlicky

Joseph Kropff (Christian Studies)
Wesley’s Doctrine of Original Sin
Dr. Hinlicky

Griffin Pivarunis (Christian Studies)
ADIAPHORA OR ESSENTIAL? The Dilemma of Same Sex Marriage and the Apostle Paul, for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Dr. Peterson

Tyler Robertson (Philosophy)
Rousseau and Hobbes on the State of Nature
Dr. Zorn

Zach Scherrer (Christian Studies)
A Lost Connection: The Negative Impact of Technology on our Spiritual Relationship with God
Dr. Wisnefske

Aubrey Teague (Philosophy)
The Neoliberal Economization of United States Prisons: The Hidden Costs of a Rising Trend
Dr. Adkins

Brian Whitt (Philosophy)
Intellectual Property and the Ownership of Ideas
Dr. Adkins

SENIOR THESES FOR 2015

Jordan Fallon (Philosophy)
Cultural Violence and Contemporary Racism
Dr. Adkins

Paisley LeRoy (Christian Studies)
Disorders of Sexual Development: A Contemporary Christian Response
Dr. Wisnefske

Shaina Lidd (Religious Studies)
Haredim and Heresy: Women’s Right to Public Prayer in a Divided Israel
Prof. Jordan

Amanda Lundberg (Religious Studies)
Forgotten Faces: Lessons about Disgust from Japanese Buddhist Nuns
Dr. Larson-Harris

Andrew Miles (Philosophy)
Beyond Critique: Participatory Pedagogy at Roanoke College
Dr. Adkins

Christopher Mumaw (Religious Studies)
Sharia in Western Democracies: Is there Room in Western Society for Islamic Law?
Dr. McDermott

Augustine Targonsky (Philosophy)
A Look at Problems in Hume’s Aesthetics Based on the Principles of Conceptual Art
Dr. Adkins

SENIOR THESES FOR 2014

Christopher Beckman (Religious Studies)
Christianity and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Was It Successful?
Dr. Wisnefske

Jillianne Disbro (Philosophy)
La Bonté Naturelle:Rousseau's Inherent Goodness and its Proof
Dr. Adkins
 
Tiara Mehič (Philosophy)
The Logic Behind Just War Theory
Dr. Wisnefske

Jennifer Stoughton (Christian Studies)
Menno Simmons and the Nurture of Children
Dr. McDermott

SENIOR THESES FOR 2013

Steve Chovanec (Philosophy)
DeLanda and Spinoza, Or, How I Learned to Stop Fearing and Love Materialism
Dr. Adkins

Katy Cline (Christian Studies)
A Hermeneutical Exploration into Biblical Equality
Dr. Peterson

Ethan Guebert (Religious Studies)
The Potlatch Ceremony of the Northwest and Its Changes in Legal Status
Dr. Larson-Harris

Edward Hrinya (Philosophy)
The Death of Determinism? (And Why That Would Be Okay)
Dr. Zorn

Ryan Hughes (Christian Studies)
What is Distinctively Lutheran? An Analysis of Piepkorn's Ecumenical Theology
Dr. McDermott

Adam Jump (Philosophy)
Determinism and Free Will:  An Examination of Modern and Contemporary Perspectives
Dr. Adkins

Brian McKee (Philosophy)
Beyond the Individual:  Hegel, Marx, and Private Property
Dr. Adkins

Robert Miller (Religious Studies)
House Churches in the Middle Kingdom:  A Look at Protestants in China
Dr. Larson-Harris

Ben Morgan (Philosophy)
Stoicism, Ethics, and Emotion
Dr. Zorn

Tim Smith (Religious Studies)
Filioque as Key to East-West Division and its Reconciliation
Dr. Hinlicky
 
Jonathan Thumas (Religious Studies)
Nature in the Shugendo Amalgam:  An Example of Contemporary Japanese Folk Religion
Dr. Larson-Harris
 
Scott Tringali (Philosophy)
Alan Moore's Transformation in Politics with Ethics: Watchmen
Dr. Adkins

Patrick Whitson (Philosophy)
Heart and Mind:  On the Possibility of an Extra-Material Consciousness
Dr. Zorn

SENIOR THESES FOR 2012

Blake Bernlohr (Philosophy)
Be In Awe: Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit Through the Practice of Meditation and Mindfulness
Dr. Larson-Harris

Jillian DeBenedetto (Philosophy)
Money and Happiness: A Philosophical and Psychological Examination
Dr. Vilhauer

Peter Foxen (Philosophy)
Plato's Theory of Knowledge: How it Changed, and How it Withstands Present-day Critiques
Dr. Zorn

Ellen MacInnis (Religious Studies)
Gender and Identity in Roanoke Pagan Communities
Dr. Rothgery

Heather Repass (Christian Studies)
Freedom or Bondage? Jonathan Edwards and Martin Luther on the Will
Dr. McDermott

SENIOR THESES FOR 2011

John Graham (Philosophy)
Philosophical Debate over Religions Language and Theory following Kant
Dr. Hinlicky

Marissa Kennedy (Theology)
So That No One can Boast: Martin Luther and Jonathan Edwards on Justification
Dr. McDermott

Caroline Lance (Theology)
Gender Roles in Marriage: A Look at Ephesians 5:21-33 Then and Now
Dr. Wisnefske

Cameron Lee (Philosophy)
A Case Study of Normalization
Dr. Adkins

Cyrus Martin (Philosophy)
Spinoza, Heidegger, and Naess: Actualizing the Human-Nature Relationship
Dr. Adkins

John Moore (Philosophy)
No-Self, Buddha-Nature, and Upaya
Dr. Larson-Harris

Matthew Peregoy (Philosophy)
Situational Physical Modality: The Trial of Charles J. Whitman
Dr. Adkins

Samantha Penn-Timity (Religion)
Love, Islam, and Sufism
Dr. Rothgery

Kathryn Schlimmer (Religion)
The Lord's Prayer: Old Testament Characteristics in New Testament Contexts
Dr. Delaney

William Shoemaker (Philosophy)
Philosophy, Food, and Freedom: The Conditions for the Possibility of Living in the Margins of the Foodscape
Dr. Adkins

Adam Sexton (Philosophy)
Plato on Happiness, Freedom, and Individuality: A Correction to Modern Views
Dr. Vilhauer

Paulwat Sirisuth (Philosophy)
Does Freedom Exist in the Patient-Physician Relationship? 
Dr. Vilhauer

Amy Woodson (Theology)
Justice in the Book of Joshua
Dr. McDermott

SENIOR THESES FOR 2010

Jesse Allen (Philosophy)
Dewey vs. Niebuhr on Pragmatism
Dr. Hinlicky

Christine Burke (Philosophy)
The Question of Selfishness in Platonic Love
Dr. Vilhauer

Eric Coleman (Philosophy)
Schelling's Metaphysics of Evil: How We Create the Past
Dr. Adkins

Jennifer Greger (Religion)
History of the Arian Controversy
Dr. Hinlicky

Marie Guirguis (Religion)
The Coptic Church: Who She Is and What She Has Been Through in 2,000 Years
Dr. Hinlicky

Laura Jennings (Philosophy)
Feminist Theory and Maternity Leave
Dr. Vilhauer

Rebecca Lord (Religion)
The Problem of Evil
Dr. Zorn

Kelsey MacIntosh (Religion)
The Misinterpretation of Love: the Theological Difference between Christianity and Islam
Dr. Hinlicky

Elizabeth Nicoll (Philosophy)
Plato on Freedom: Introducing a New Reading of the Dialogues
Dr. Vilhauer

Heather Unroe (Religion)
The Role of Procreation in Christian Marriage
Dr. Wisnefske