The MSU Graduate College has awarded yet another of our Religious Studies M.A. students the “Distinguished Thesis of the Year Award”, this time to Danny R. Jones for his thesis, “How God Writes History: A Gramscian Analysis of Religion and Nature in the Writings, Life, and Legacy of John Muir”, written under the direction of his advisor, Dr. Martha Finch (MSU Religious Studies Professor Emeritus).  Congratulations, Danny!

Religious Studies students have been honored with this award seven times in the sixteen years since 2005, an excellent record for a single department from our entire university. The list of winners is as follows:

2019-2020, Daniel R. Jones (advisor, Dr. Martha Finch), HOW GOD WRITES HISTORY: A GRAMSCIAN ANALYSIS OF RELIGION AND NATURE IN THE WRITINGS, LIFE, AND LEGACY OF JOHN MUIR

2018-2019, David Armstrong (advisor, Dr. Leslie Baynes), A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND GODS: ANGELIC AND PARTICIPATORY DEIFICATION IN JOHN’S APOCALYPSE

2015-2016, Harrison King (advisor, Dr. John Schmalzbauer), RELIGION AND ANTHROPOGENESIS: OTHER ANIMAL PRESENCES IN THE SCIENCE-FICTION OF URSULA K. LE GUIN

2012-2013, Matthew Hartman (advisor, Dr. Julia Watts Belser), BETWEEN OTHERS, BETWEEN ETHICS: RESISTING DOMINATION THROUGH POSTCOLONIALISM, ENVIRONMENTALISM, AND ECOCRITICISM

2011-2012, Linda Covey (advisor, Dr. Martha Finch), DINÉ BECOMING BAHA’Í: THROUGH THE LENS OF ANCIENT PROPHECIES

2007-2008, David Rice (advisor, Dr. Martha Finch), HOW THE MISSOURI BAPTIST CONVENTION SHIFTED THEIR IDENTITY TO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION’S NEW HEGEMONY

2004-2005, Brian Doak (advisor, Dr. Victor Matthews), PATRIARCH AS TRICKSTER: THE SOCIAL AND LITERARY FUNCTION OF THE JACOB CYCLE IN GENESIS 25-33