In our fourth post, we hear from another recent graduate, Allison James, who reflects on her senior thesis project and what it taught her about research and scholarship. (This post comes to us from Germany, where Allison was traveling with Religion Department Professor Dr. Marcia Bunge.)
As a senior this past year, I was grateful to be able to take the Senior Thesis class within the Religion Department at Gustavus. It allowed me to take a deep dive into one of my greatest academic passions: the intersection between science and religion. My thesis, entitled “From Creation to Eschaton: The Restorative Ecological Eschatology of J. Richard Middleton & Barbara Rossing,” enabled me to analyze protological and eschatological texts within the Bible through the lens of care for the earth and attention to climate change. The books written by the scholars I focused on inspired me to think critically and creatively, which challenged me and engaged me greatly in my work. I feel that the opportunity to take the Senior Thesis class helped me grow tremendously as a writer and scholar, and for that I am very thankful.
If you’d like to read my thesis you can find it here: https://archives.gac.edu/digital/collection/irstudents/id/4208