In addition to the Davis Honors Challenge, the campus-wide honors program, the Religious Studies department offers the opportunity for motivated students to earn high or highest honors within their major. The requirements for earning high and highest honors in Religious Studies are in addition to the regular requirements for the major.

Honors in Religious Studies Program

Eligibility Requirements

Students, at the end of their junior year (135 units), must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 in courses required for their Religious Studies major.

Honors Requirements

The honors in Religious Studies program is focused on the candidate writing a senior thesis. Normally, a student will undertake the honors project during the first two quarters of the senior year; other arrangements must be authorized by the department chair.

Write a senior thesis under the direction of a faculty member.

Enroll in at least six units of Religious Studies 194H distributed over two quarters.

Honors Students

Samuel Robert Blumberg

"The Fruit of Holiness Shall be on My Tongue:" A Close Look at Food in the Community Rule

First discovered in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls reflect the lifestyle and rules of a group that inhabited several caves near the Dead Sea. My research focuses on the role of food as portrayed in the Community Rule document. The text is full of food imagery and speaks of a sacred communal Meal that only full members of the sect were allowed to take part in. While many scholars choose to relate this sect to the Essenes based on documents from late antiquity, I have attempted to analyze the sect based on the content of the Community Rule itself, as well as other scholarly research supported by archaeological and textual findings. In my research I intend to explore 1) the social implications of the sect’s Meal; 2) the importance of food and drink in the Community Rule text; and 3) whether or not the Meal was the pinnacle of importance for the Dead Sea community. By delving into these and other topics, I hope to paint a revised picture of the Dead Sea community and further interpret the real importance of the community Meal.

Julian Eldorduy

The Rise of the Sangoma: The Political and Social Dynamics of the Rise of Witchcraft in Contemporary South Africa

In the years following the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a growing number of witchcraft accusations. These accusations often lead to violence, and often disrupt civil processes within the newly formed state. My area of research will cover the rise of witchcraft accusations in South Africa and how it has affected the social and political dynamic of the area. Using library research and second-hand case study, I will examine how family feuding and political infighting fuel this issue. While previous scholars have attributed such beliefs to irrational superstition, I will seek to show that witchcraft is an indelible element of culture in South Africa. It is an element that political authority cannot simply abrogate or ignore. My research shows that the rise of witchcraft accusations in contemporary South Africa compares to historical instances of the rise of such beliefs. This information will allow readers to view witchcraft in South Africa in a more appropriate historical context, and it will help to sidestep cultural misunderstandings about these beliefs.

Britney Harrison

American Civil Religion is a social construct that perpetuates the belief in the transcendence of American culture as a cohesive multicultural system in which the civil religious practices of the American mainstream are assumed to be the sum of all experiences and traditions that exist within the American identity. This paper proposes that American civil religion functions as a method of assimilation and culture building into the religious beliefs of a political mainstream that contributes to the disappearance of minority faiths and culture by perpetuating a cultural language of dominance. The analysis will draw on the insight of Robert Bellah, who originated the concept in the context of the American experience and conclude that civil religion is not cohesive. Cases of civil religious practice in the civil space, such as inauguration, will be used to assert that the functions of American civil religion are dismissive of minority cultures and practices that exist within American society by attempting to comb over the problems of pluralism and democracy with a mythological model of unity that is used to justify centuries of wars and oppression both within and outside of America. This paper is an attempt at understanding the problematic nature of defining the American identity by viewing the diversity of religious values and experiences that have had a hand in creating the states of America.

Jacob Ritter

Tithing Versus Zakat: An Economic Model and Comparison

Since the rise of Islam in 622 CE, the question of economic activity based on compatibility with religious precepts has been an issue of contention between Christians and Muslims, especially with regards to tithing and zakat. Muslims contend that zakat is a more fair system of almsgiving, as it effectively discourages greediness and the tendency to hoard by taxing one’s savings, and is a more effective way of initiating socioeconomic stability within the umma. Christians contend that tithing is a more fair system of almsgiving because it demands an equal percentage of income, and this system of taxation compels adherents to behave economically in a way that is more in line with scripture. This research paper will dissect both forms of almsgiving at a mathematical level, and then compare them to see what kinds of economic incentives are involved with each methodology, and attempt to extrapolate what kind of socioeconomic systems these religious precepts seek to create, and compare those economic systems to those advocated by the scriptures of their respective religions.

Julia Sway

Exploring the Role of Modern Thai Female Buddhist Ordination

Thailand, a nationally Buddhist country, is considered one of the worlds most progressive nation-states, yet it refuses to recognize women who wish to be ordained as nuns. My research surrounds these two seemingly conflicting facts. I intended to explore how Buddhism infiltrates Thai political, social and economic structures. The controversy surrounding Thailand’s strong opposition to woman ordination stems from two main facts. Firstly, historically Nun-hood was granted by the Buddha and nuns played a very considerable role in making Buddhism as wide spread and successful as it is today. Secondly, other Theravada countries that are not considered as politically or economically progressive as Thailand, such as Sri Lanka, have not only recognized ordained nuns, but have reinstated nun orders. My research so far has explored the historical role of women who have wished to be ordained in Thailand, the relationship between Thai history and Buddhism, and the role of women in Thailand alongside Buddhism. I have observed through books and abroad experience that Thai Buddhism depends on women giving offerings to male monks. If women were to have more options in the religious field, innumerable aspects of Thai society would be thrown off balance. In further research I would like to prove that the reason why women are not allowed to become nuns is not based on religious beliefs which is what the government claims, but instead because of social-functional reasons. This conclusion will reinforce the fact that religion is inseparable from all aspects of societies around the world.

James Ungureanu

Clement, Augustine, Bacon, and the Historiography of Science

The historiography of the relationship between science and religion has a complex history. Since the 19^th century, views of the relationship between science and religion have varied from “conflict,” to “concord,” to “complexity.” Most modern historians of science, however, have concluded that this relationship was, and still is, far too complex to characterize either as conflict or concord. They have all argued that the relationship between science and religion has often been affected by cultural, social, psychological, political, and historical elements. But one modern sociologist, Rodney Stark, has essentially argued the exact opposite. In his "For the Glory of God," Stark argues that modern science has its foundations in a uniquely Christian theology. But this argument seems to me to be overly simplistic. In this essay I shall seek to demonstrate that Stark has rarified both "science" and "Christianity." I shall trace the development of the ideas of leading figures in the history of Christianity that can be said to have provided both the philosophical framework for modern science and Christian theology; namely, Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, and Roger Bacon. It is my hypothesis that by analyzing the ideas and works of these figures, it shall be demonstrated that the development of modern science was a historically complex synthesis of Greek, Jewish, Arabic, and Christian ideas. Contrary to Stark, what we shall discovery is that the relationship between science and religion has been a relationship between ideas and people, and not a unique Christian theology.