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Mac Alumni Win Awards

Ananda Abeysekara '92

Christian Novetzke '93

Every year the American Academy of Religion, the primary organization
for professors and scholars of Religious Studies in the United States and Canada, gives an award for the scholarly book judged best first book in the History of Religions. For the second time in six years, a Macalester alum has won the award. Christian Novetzke ('93) won with
his book Religion and Public Memory: A Cultural History of Saint Namdev in India (Columbia, 2008). Ananda Abeysekara ('92) won the same award in 2003 for his book Colors of the Robe: Religion, Identity, and Difference (University of South Carolina Press, 2002).

 

The guidelines and proposal form for an honors thesis are here.

 

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Religous Studies
Old Main, 108
651-696-6141
Toni Schrantz



Awards

ROBERT A. CAINE MEMORIAL PRIZE--Established by family and friends in memory of Robert A. Caine, who served as pastor of Presbyterian churches in Red Wing and Duluth, Minnesota, and in Rochester, New York, as executive for the Synod of Minnesota and as a trustee of Macalester College. Awarded annually in recognition of high achievement in religious studies to those planning to go on for graduate work at a theological seminary or graduate school.

Past Winners
2011 Daniel I. Rocklin, Sher Afgan K. Tareen
2010 Namara Brede
2009 Elliot Niblock
2008 Sonia Hazard
2007 Ashley Geisendorfer
1993 Emily Brault
2006 Eleanor Strand
2005 Sherali Tareen, Benjamin Wurtmann
2004 Deanna Ferree
2003 Patrick D'Silva, Elizabeth Kaziunas
2002 Susanna Fioratta, Jason Schlude
2001 Elizabeth McKay, Jane Yager
2000 Audrey Larrimer, Katie Pantazi
1999 Tracy Powell, Daphne Wiebe
1998 Susan Bailey, Sam Lieberman
1997 Sean Campanella, Michael Dekker
1996 Paul Jarvis, John Millspaugh
1995 Ellen Sherby, Christopher Tassava
1994 Katrina Olds

GEORGE W. DAVIS MEMORIAL PRIZE IN RELIGION--Established by Ethel Mary Davis in memory of her husband. Cash awards given by the Religious Studies Department to juniors (for use in their senior year) who in the judgment of the department have attained the highest degree of excellence.

Past Winners
2010 Sher Afgan Tareen, Daniel Rocklin
2009 David Schmoeller
2008 Anne Gonzalez, Katherine Ziegler
2007 Sonia Hazard
2006 Emily Calkins, Emma Gallegos
2005 Cassandra Berman
2004 Breanne Goodell, Johanna Shreve, Benjamin Wurtmann
2003 Deanna Ferree
2002 Luke Sykora
2001 Jason Schlude
2000 Jeffrey Fitz, Kwame Phillips, Rebecca Schnall-Levin, Jane Yager
1999 Emily Mandelman, Katie Pantazis
1998 Daphne Wiebe
1997 Naomi Cytron, Jennifer Hunter, Tracy Powell
1996 Paul Coleman
1995 Eileen Hanson, David Penn
1994 John Millspaugh
1993 Vanessa Harnik, Katrina Olds

PRIZES PREVIOUSLY AWARDED BY THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT

MILTON MCLEAN AWARD--Awarded to seniors of high academic achievement planning to do graduate work in religious studies.

Past Winners
1999 Amy Golembiewski, Elizabeth Hauze (final year of award)
1998 not awarded
1997 Rachel Buck, Elisabeth (Eily) Marlow
1996 Hilary Himan
1995 Jenny Kehl
1994 Benjamin Abrahamse

JEWISH STUDIES AWARD--A cash award to a senior in Religious Studies for academic excellence in Jewish Studies.

Past Winners
1996 Ethan Roberts
1995 Tamara Nadel

Student Projects

2011 Honors Theses
Daniel Isaac Rocklin
Dueling Dualisms: Christian Theologies in Response to Global Climate Change
Paula Cooey, Advisor

2010 Honors Theses
Ryland Patrick Witzler
Ali Shariati: Red Shi'ism and Revolution in Iran
Paula Cooey, Advisor

2009 Honors Theses
Elizabeth Baer
Working the System: The Role of Islam in Student Negotiations of a Midwestern Charter School
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Elliott Niblock
Rethink Orthodoxy and Heresy: The Transgression of Peter Waldes
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Katherine Zeigler
Animal Theologies for Christians
Paula Cooey, Advisor

2008 Honors Theses
Sonia Marie Olson Hazard
Purity as Product: Capitalism and Evangelical Christian Values in the Art of the Pink Nun
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Kimberly Terea Wortmann
Re-claiming the Veil: An Historical and Literary of How Islamic Feminists Have Appropriated the Veil as a Hermeneutical Tool
James Laine, Advisor

2007 Honors Theses
Ashley Rose Geisendorfer
The Christian Science Child: Subjectivity and Social Marginalization
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Zachary Saul Teicher
American Children Encountering the Bible: Ensuring Engagement through the American Education System and the Children's Bible
James Laine, Advisor

2006 Honors Theses
Cassandra Nicole Berman
Wayward Nuns, Randy Priests, and Women's Autonomy: "Convent Abuse" and the Threat to Protestant Patriarchy in Cictorian England.
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Mashal Saif
The 'Offence of Zina Ordinance' of Pakista: An Invented Tradition or Divine Sanction?
James Laine, Advisor

Eleanor Cecile Strand
Inheritance and InnovationL The Project of Understanding Contemporary Experiences of South Indian Christians
James Laine, Advisor

2005 Honors Theses
Elisa K. Berry
The Redemptive Power of Art
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Kathryn O'Brien Cohen
What We Say: Genocide, the Politics of Memory, and Sudan
Paula Cooey, Advisor

SherAli K. Tareen
The Rhetoric of Religious Revival in 17th Century India: A Hermeneutical Investigation into the Life and Writings of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1563-1624)
James Laine, Advisor

Samuel L. Worley-Ekstrom
There's a Darkness on the Edge of Town: Religion, Secularism, and the Claim to "America"
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Ben Wurtmann
What Have You to Do with Me?
Paula Cooey, Advisor

2003 Honors Theses
Christina M. Blank
Religious Art and Controversy
Sarah Horton, Advisor

Mikella M. Hurley
"We Shall Be Fruitful in the Land": The Life-Affirming Theologies of West African Charismatic Churches
Allen Callahan, Advisor

Elizabeth S. Kaziunas
Mother as Teacher: A Study of Homeschool Mothers and Dissent
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Richard Landon
To Partake in the Nature of the Religious: Music's Role in the Process of Meaning-Making
Peter Harle, Advisor

2002 Honors Theses
Catherine C. Bowler
Radical Orthodoxy
Paula Cooey, Advisor

Valerie L. Miller
Stripmines as Stigmata: Case Studies in the Use of Religion to Address Environmental Problems
James Laine, Advisor

Jason M. Schlude
Jewish Perceptions of Gentiles: An Approach to the Study of Hellenistic Jewish Identity
Calvin Roetzel, Advisor

2001 Honors Theses
Jane Yager
The Rosary and the Lawnmower: The Making of Public Religion in the American City
Paula Cooey, Advisor


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