Signum University

A Thesis Theatre by Bronwyn Rivera From psychology to film theory, ecocriticism to posthumanism, anime studies have flourished as scholars investigate the medium through a variety of interdisciplinary lenses. In particular, academics are examining relationships between pilgrimage and tourism to anime/anime-adjacent sites, how anime plotlines reflect or reject narrative archetypes, or how specific anime subgenres…

A Thesis Theatre by Grace Bennett This thesis challenges the reductionistic narrative that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were anti-technology and anti-science. It examines technological examples from the works of Lewis and Tolkien that show their varying degrees of comfort and caution surrounding different types of technology. The first category this thesis assesses is technology…

A Thesis Theatre by Sarah Shahan Polo. This thesis explores the complex relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the literary and cultural movements of modernism and postmodern counterculture. Though Tolkien personally distanced himself from modernist and postmodern ideologies, his work nevertheless reflects and resonates with themes central to both movements. By…

A Thesis Theater by Jeffrey Wade Abstract:This thesis concerns itself with the question of whether the inhabitants of Tolkien’s Arda possess an awareness of their creation’s eschatological end. It is not a study of Christian doctrine, Tolkien, or outside analysis. It is a study of how myth carries the weight of a telos through music,…

A Thesis Theater by Fr. Andrew Damick This Thesis Theater has passed; enjoy the recording here: ABSTRACT: In J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, particularly in The Silmarillion and related material, the reader encounters divine beings, including the Valar, who are called gods in the text and by Tolkien himself in his commentary. Multiple divine…

Ecology, Eucatastrophe, and Estel: Themes of Joy and Hope in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Use of Botanical Elements and Imagery This thesis theater has passed, please enjoy the recording: Thesis abstract: J. R. R. Tolkien’s tales about Middle-earth were designed to provide a conceivable mythological history for the existing world. Due to this intentional connection, his…

Thesis Theatre for Sarah Monnier This thesis Theatre has passed. Enjoy the recording! Abstract: It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Classics, which generally means Greek and Latin language materials, are much more advanced in digital scholarship and resources than Germanic languages. While an enormous amount of material exists online to allow research into Biblical…

This Thesis Theatre has passed; please enjoy the recording: ABSTRACT:M.R. James was recognized and acclaimed for his short stories of the macabre written at the turn of the twentieth century. In the 1970’s the new genre of Folk Horror arose, basing many of its stories within the England countryside, and claiming M.R. James as a…