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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] where she was previously Professor of Vernacular Religion.[2]

Bowman is a long-standing researcher into New Age and alternative spiritualities.[3] 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".[4]

Education

Bowman began her university education at Glasgow University but moved to Lancaster University to study under Prof Ninian Smart.[3]

Bowman completed her MA in Folklore at Memorial University, Newfoundland: her dissertation was on devotion to St Gerard Majella in Newfoundland.[5] She completed her PhD at the University of Glamorgan in 1998 on 'Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression'.[6]

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".[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10]

Recognition

Bowman has been a visiting lecturer or professor at a number of European universities, including the University of Oslo, Norway;[11] University of Bayreuth, Germany; University of Pecs, Hungary and University of Tartu, Estonia.[12]

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[13] 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.[14][15] She is an International Fellow of the American Folklore Society.[16]

Selected publications

  • Bowman, Marion (April 1993). "Reinventing the celts". Religion. 23 (2): 147–156. doi:10.1006/reli.1993.1013.
  • Bowman, Marion (1995). "The commodification of the Celt: New Age/Neo-pagan consumerism". In Brewer, Teri (ed.). The Marketing of Tradition: Perspectives on Folklore, Tourism and the Heritage Industry. Hisarlik. ISBN 978-1-874312-21-5. OCLC 35555136.
  • Bowman, Marion (May 1995). "The noble savage and the global village: Cultural evolution in new age and neo‐pagan THOUGHT". Journal of Contemporary Religion. 10 (2): 139–149. doi:10.1080/13537909508580734.
  • Bowman, Marion (January 1998). "Belief, Legend and Perceptions of the Sacred in Contemporary Bath". Folklore. 109 (1–2): 25–31. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1998.9715958.
  • Sutcliffe, Steven; Bowman, Marion, eds. (2000). Beyond New Age: Exploring Alternative Spirituality. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-0998-7. OCLC 43969544.
  • Bowman, Marion (2001). "The People's Princess: Religion and Politics in the Mourning for Diana". In Barna, Gábor (ed.). Politics and Folk Religion. Department of Ethnology, University of Szeged. ISBN 978-963-482-400-8. OCLC 61726708.
  • Bowman, Marion (2002). "Contemporary Celtic spirituality". In Pearson, Joanne (ed.). Belief Beyond Boundaries: Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0744-1. OCLC 48098557.
  • 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.
  • Bowman, Marion (December 2004). "Presidential address given to the Folklore society, March 2004[1]: Procession and possession in glastonbury: continuity, change and the manipulation of tradition". Folklore. 115 (3): 273–285. doi:10.1080/0015587042000284266. S2CID 216643691.
  • Bowman, Marion (August 2006). "The Holy Thorn Ceremony: Revival, Rivalry and Civil Religion in Glastonbury: Presidential Address Given To the Folklore society, March 2005". Folklore. 117 (2): 123–140. doi:10.1080/00155870600707805. S2CID 161605141.
  • Bowman, Marion (June 2009). "Learning from experience: The value of analysing Avalon". Religion. 39 (2): 161–168. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2009.01.016. S2CID 144329975.
  • Bowman, Marion; Valk, Ulo (2014). Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life: Expressions of Belief. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-54354-1. OCLC 893333268.
  • Bowman, Marion (27 June 2014). "Far from the madding crowd: Glastonbury's spiritual side". The Conversation.
  • 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.
  • Coleman, Simon; Bowman, Marion (2 January 2019). "Religion in cathedrals: pilgrimage, heritage, adjacency, and the politics of replication in Northern Europe". Religion. 49 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2018.1515341. S2CID 149551939.
  • Bowman, Marion; Sepp, Tiina (2 January 2019). "Caminoisation and Cathedrals: replication, the heritagisation of religion, and the spiritualisation of heritage". Religion. 49 (1): 74–98. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2018.1515325. S2CID 150171323.
  • Bowman, Marion (September 2020). "'Rehabilitating' Pilgrimage in Scotland: Heritage, Protestant Pilgrimage, and Caledonian Caminos". Numen. 67 (5–6): 453–482. doi:10.1163/15685276-12341598. S2CID 225314281.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Professor Marion Bowman, The Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-26.
  2. ^ "Scotlands Sacred Islands With Ben Fogle "aims to focus on the power of the islands themselves to nurture and nourish religion and spirituality"". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  3. ^ a b "It's a way with the fairies". The Independent. 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  4. ^ "Marion Bowman". The Conversation. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  5. ^ 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]
  6. ^ Bowman, Marion Irene (1998). Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality: Studies in Religious Experience and Expression (Thesis).
  7. ^ "Bowman". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  8. ^ "Steering Committee". The Baron Thyssen Centre for the Study of Ancient Material Religion. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  9. ^ "Cathedrals & Pilgrimage". Cathedrals & Pilgrimage. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  10. ^ "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "Contesting Authority; Vernacular Knowledge and Alternative Beliefs; Marion Bowman and Ülo Valk". Equinox Publishing. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  14. ^ 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]
  15. ^ 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]
  16. ^ "AFS Fellows". American Folklore Society. Retrieved 2024-02-07.
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