Ideas for Future Theses

There are several manuscripts that have recently become available of the Liturgy of St. James, Brother of the Lord. An interesting senior thesis would be to compare and contrast these manuscripts and to then continue the work of Phillip von Gardner, who first prepared this service in Church Slavonic for use in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

The Western Rite movement within Orthodoxy Christianity has a very interesting history. It also has a complex and somewhat controversial liturgical expression. The Western Rite exists in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, and in other canonical and non-canonical varieties. An interesting senior thesis would be to examine the history of the Western Rite, its liturgical claims, its contemporary liturgical expression, and whether it has been an efficacious vehicle in bringing those to Orthodoxy who otherwise would not have become Orthodox Christians.

If you are interested in either of these projects please contact me privately.

Priest Gregory Joyce
Dean