College of Liberal Arts
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Previous Outcomes

The Department of Religious Studies prepares its PhD graduates to compete for a range of positions in academia and beyond, including at the most competitive research institutions as well as the most demanding liberal arts colleges. See below for a complete list of placements.

2024

Adeline Harrington

Title of Dissertation: Orthodoxy Entangled: Christian Reading, Power, and Diversity in Oxyrhynchus

Evan LeBarre

Title of Dissertation: Battle for the Sun: Asceticism and Kingship in Ancient South Asian Religion

 

2023

Caroline Crews

Title of Dissertation: Messy Martyrs: The Textual Transmission of the Perpetua and Felicity Tradition

Alexander Kreger

Title of Dissertation: The Stringed Qur’an: Post-Islamic Reform and Musical Revival among Alevis in Turkey and Europe
Current position: Habib University - Global Fellow, Comparative Humanaties Program 
 

2022

Daniel C. Smith

Title of Dissertation: Religious Exoticism in John’s Apocalypse and Western Asia Minor
Current position: Whitman College – Assistant Professor, Department of Religion and Department of Classics

Jeffrey Scott Wilson, Jr.

Title of Dissertation: Aśvatthāman in the Mahābhārata: Narrative, Cosmology, and Counter-Normativity
Current position: Independent Scholar
 

2021

Nathan Leach

Title of Dissertation: Revelation and Divination: Performative Access to Divine Knowledge in Oracles, Mysteries, and the Apocalypse of John
Current position: Texas State University – Lecturer, Department of Philosophy

Josefrayn Sánchez-Perry

Title of Dissertation: They Give the Sun to Drink: The Life and Labor of Nahua Ritual Specialists
Current position: Loyola University Chicago – Assistant Professor, Department of Theology 

 

2020

Jaimie Gunderson

Title of Dissertation: Affecting Corinth: Grief and Other Feelings in 2 Corinthians
Current position: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor

Jay Henriques

Title of Dissertation: Magical Art Vs. Divine Nature: Competition Over Miracles And The So-Called "Divine Man" Tradition In The Second Sophistic And Beyond
Current position: Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, Department of Religion – Teaching Fellow

Ryan Fitzgerald

Title of Dissertation: Forged In Blood: The Christian Third Race And The Parting Of The Ways
Current position: St. Edward's University, San Antonio, TX, Department of Religious & Theological Studies – Adjunct Lecturer

Sung Soo Hong

Title of Dissertation: Epistolary Psychagogy in the Letter of James
Current position: Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary – Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament

 

2019

Jin Kim

Title of Dissertation: Reinventing Conversion: The Lukan Literary Efforts To Construct The Concept Of 'Christian Conversion' In The Acts Of The Apostles
Current position: Oklahoma State University, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor

Michel Sunhae Lee

Title of Dissertation: Contesting The Sabbath: A History Of Weekly Sacred Times In America, 1848-1920
Current position: Southern Adventist University, Assistant Professor of History and Political Studies

 

2018

Katharine Batlan

Title of Dissertation: Christ In The Constitution: Contesting Amendment Proposals and Religious Liberty In The United States, 1863-1975
Current position: Independent Scholar

Benjamin Cox

Title of Dissertation: Gods Without Faces: Childhood, Religion, And Imagination In Contemporary Japan
Current position: Westborough, MA – Independent Scholar

Bradley King

Title of Dissertation: Domesticating Eve: Women And Creation Rhetoric In The Second-Century Pauline Tradition
Current position: First United Methodist Church, Austin, TX – Associate Pastor 

Joshua Urich

Title of Dissertation: Unmasked: The Practice Of American Skepticism
Current position: Colby College, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor

 

2017

Anthony (Tony) Keddie

Title of Dissertation: Revelations of Ideology: Apocalyptic Class Politics in Early Roman Palestine
Current position: The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Religious Studies – Associate Professor

Elena Kravchenko

Title of Dissertation: Orthodox Women in America: The Making of the Conservative-Liberal Subject
Current position: Washington University - St. Louis, Department of Religious Studies – Senior Lecturer

 

2016

Michael Flexsenhar

Title of Dissertation: Slaves Of Christ: Caesar's Household And The Early Christians
Current position: Rhodes College, Department of Religious Studies – Visiting Assistant Professor

Megan Case

Title of Dissertation: War, Kidnapping, Dismemberment, And Exchange: (Im)proper Regulation Of Bodies In Judges 19-21
Current position: Drury University, History, Philosophy & Religion Department – Visiting Assistant Professor

Justin Doran

Title of Dissertation: The Heargelt Spirit: Capitalism, Affect, And Pentecostal Modernity In The Americas
Current position: Middlebury College, Department of Religion – Assistant Professor

Michael Amoruso

Title of Dissertation: Walking With The Dead: Transit, Transfer, And Transformation In Sao Paulo's Devotion To Souls
Current position: Occidental College, Department of Religious Studies – Assistant Professor 

Program Contacts

Graduate Student Handbook (pdf)

Five-Year Program Overview (pdf)