DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Amanda Gvozden is a JD/Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies department. Her research lies at the intersection of religious ethics, law, and gender. Her current project focuses on an exploration of the American Death Penalty through the lens of gender studies, ritual studies, and literary studies. Particularly, she is interested in the religious dynamics of American legal rituals, questions of authority over definitions of “life” and “death,” how using narrative analysis of the death penalty may illuminate hidden meanings, mechanisms, and motivations. Amanda’s previous work in the field has focused, similarly, on the intersection of religion, law, gender, and ethics. But her other interests include neurotheology and religious experience, religion and medical ethics, religion, ethics, and horror literature, and feminist approaches to law, religion, and ritual. She received her B.A. in Religious Studies and Neurotheology from Dickinson College in 2015 and an M.A. in Religious Ethics from The University of Chicago in 2017. Amanda is advised by faculty at both TGS and Pritzker School of Law including Cristina Traina (Fordham University), Barry Wimpfheimer (Northwestern University), and Meredith Martin Rountree (Northwestern Pritzker School of Law).