Marion Bowman

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Marion Bowman (born 1955) is a British academic working on the borders of religious studies and folklore and ethnology. She is Professor Emerita in Religious Studies, The Open University. [1]

Contents

Bowman is a long-standing researcher into New Age and alternative spiritualities. [2] Her research focus is predominantly contemporary spirituality in the UK and Europe, particularly "the practices and beliefs of individuals both within and on the margins of institutional religion". [3]

Education

Bowman began her university education at Glasgow University but moved to Lancaster University to study under Prof Ninian Smart. [2]

Bowman completed her MA in Folklore at Memorial University, Newfoundland: her dissertation was on devotion to St Gerard Majella in Newfoundland. [4] She completed her PhD at the University of Glamorgan in 1998 on 'Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression'. [5]

Career

From 1990 to 2000 Bowman was based at Bath Spa University in the department of Study of Religions. [1]

In 2000 Bowman joined the Religious Studies department at The Open University. She was Head of Department between 2010 and 2013. [1]

Bowman has carried out a long term study of Glastonbury, seeing it as a sight of "significant pilgrimage destination and microcosm of contemporary spirituality and vernacular religiosity". [6]

Bowman is a member of the Steering Committee of the Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion, based in the Classical Studies Department at the Open University. [7] She was also a Co-Investigator on the Arts Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project Pilgrimage and England’s Cathedrals, Past and Present, which ran from 2014-2018. [8]

The research of Bowman and Open University colleagues into alternative religions has been seen to have a number of impacts: both at an academic level in influencing research agendas but also in influencing a more positive public awareness of practitioners of alternative religions. [9]

Recognition

Bowman has been a visiting lecturer or professor at a number of European universities, including the University of Oslo, Norway; [10] University of Bayreuth, Germany; University of Pecs, Hungary and University of Tartu, Estonia. [11]

She is a former president of the British Association for the Study of Religions and a former Vice-President of both the European Association for the Study of Religions [12] and Theology and Religious Studies UK. [1]

Between 2002 and 2005, Bowman served as president of the Folklore Society: her Presidential Lectures derived from her research into Glastonbury and Newfoundland. [13] [14] She is an International Fellow of the American Folklore Society. [15]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glastonbury Tor</span> Hill in Glastonbury, Somerset, England

Glastonbury Tor is a tor near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower, a Grade I listed building. The site is managed by the National Trust and has been designated a scheduled monument. The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology, particularly in myths linked to King Arthur, and has several other enduring mythological and spiritual associations.

Religious philosophy is philosophical thinking that is influenced and directed as a consequence of teachings from a particular religion. It can be done objectively, but it may also be done as a persuasion tool by believers in that faith. Religious philosophy is concerned with the nature of religion, theories of salvation, and conceptions of god, gods, and/or the divine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religiosity</span> Degree of religious commitment or involvement

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Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks can be summarized according to the classic distinction between the natural-scientific and human-scientific approaches. The first cluster amounts to objective, quantitative, and preferably experimental procedures for testing hypotheses about causal connections among the objects of one's study. In contrast, the human-scientific approach accesses the human world of experience using qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretive methods. This approach aims to discern meaningful, rather than causal, connections among the phenomena one seeks to understand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folklore studies</span> Branch of anthropology

Folklore studies is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the academic study of traditional culture from the folklore artifacts themselves. It became established as a field across both Europe and North America, coordinating with Volkskunde (German), folkeminner (Norwegian), and folkminnen (Swedish), among others.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Marion Bowman, The Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  2. 1 2 "It's a way with the fairies". The Independent. 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  3. "Marion Bowman". The Conversation. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  4. Bowman, Marion (27 July 2016). "The contented collector: materiality, relationality and the power of things". Material Religion. 12 (3): 384–386. doi:10.1080/17432200.2016.1192159. S2CID   193315973.[ non-primary source needed ]
  5. Bowman, Marion Irene (1998). Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression (Thesis).
  6. "Bowman". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  7. "Steering Committee". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  8. "Cathedrals & Pilgrimage". Cathedrals & Pilgrimage. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  9. "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  10. jeg?, Besøksadresse P. A. Munchs husNiels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 OSLO Postadresse Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 OSLO Kontakt oss Hvem kontakter. "Marion Bowman er tilsatt som professor II i kulturhistorie - Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk". www.hf.uio.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2021-05-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. "2019 ISSRNC Conference - Keynote Speaker Marion Bowman". The International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (ISSRNC). 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  12. "Contesting Authority; Vernacular Knowledge and Alternative Beliefs; Marion Bowman and Ülo Valk". Equinox Publishing. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  13. Bowman, Marion (March 2003). "Vernacular religion and nature: The 'Bible of the Folk' tradition in Newfoundland". Folklore. 114 (3): 285–295. doi:10.1080/0015587032000145333. S2CID   144203410.[ non-primary source needed ]
  14. Bowman, Marion (December 2004). "Presidential address given to the Folklore society, March 2004: Procession and possession in glastonbury: continuity, change and the manipulation of tradition". Folklore. 115 (3): 273–285. doi: 10.1080/0015587042000284266 .[ non-primary source needed ]
  15. "AFS Fellows". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 2024-02-07.