Thesis Topics

Over at Euangelion Michael called for some fake thesis topics to throw out when somebody asks you about yours. I figured I would contribute. At the moment I am not in school, though at some point I’ll go back for my PhD. Right now I’m too busy having fun programming :)

Back in college my roomate (Ragan) and I used to practice being random in conversation. Perhaps that would be relevant here. Actually, I’ve seen a number of theses and dissertations in my time that looked pretty random. So here are a few responses:

1. "My topic is on how the raising of the Nephilim was a thematic precursor to the idea behind the modern elevator."
2. "In my graduate study I found studying the tactics of religious and political groups interesting, so I’m doing a comparison between the tactics of the "Left Behind" series and movements in 17th century France."
3. "My topic is about the post-exilic understanding of demonic influence on banking in the pre-exilic period."
4. "Jude 2:6’s influence on the most recent Batman movie."
5. "My dissertation is going to argue for a common source, which I call ‘F’, for the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ and the biblical flood story."

Which ones are more believable? I would say numbers 3 and 5 maybe are, though they would each be better for different types of people. The first isn’t going to really pique the interest of anyone, though you’ll get more eyebrows raised with the second when talking to most modern evangelicals. The fifth would be useful for flustering conservative/fundamentalistic types. Third and fourth would be best for random encounters, I suppose.

My 2 cents.