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 Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University.^[1]

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]

Bowman is currently vice-president of theology and religious studies UK.^[12] She is a former president of the British Association for the Study of Religions and a former Vice-President of the European Association for the Study of Religions.^[13]

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]}

Selected publications[]

• Bowman, Marion (1993-04-01). "Reinventing the Celts". Religion. 23 (2): 147–156. doi:10.1006/reli.1993.1013. ISSN 0048-721X.
• Bowman, Marion (1994). "The commodification of the Celt: New Age/Neo-pagan consumerism". In: The marketing of tradition: perspectives on folklore, tourism and the heritage industry. Teri Brewer. Enfield Lock: Hisarlik. 1994. ISBN 1-874312-21-4. OCLC 35555136.
• Bowman, Marion (1995-05-01). "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. ISSN1353-7903.
• Bowman, Marion (1998-01-01). "Belief, Legend and Perceptions of the Sacred in Contemporary Bath". Folklore. 109 (1–2): 25–31. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1998.9715958. ISSN 0015-587X.
• Bowman, Marion; Sutcliffe, Steven (eds) (2000) Beyond New Age: exploring alternative spirituality. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0998-9. OCLC 43969544.
• Bowman, Marion (2001). The People’s Princess: Religion and Politics in the Mourning for Diana. In: Barna, Gabor ed. Politics and Folk Religion. Bibliotheca religionis popularis Szegediensis, (6). Szeged, Hungary: Department of Ethnology, University of Szeged. ISBN 963-482-400-5. OCLC 61726708.
• Bowman, Marion (2002). Contemporary Celtic spirituality. In: Pearson, Joanne ed. Belief beyond boundaries: Wicca, Celtic spirituality and the New Age. Religion today: tradition, modernity and change (5). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, pp. 55–101. ISBN 0-7546-0744-5. OCLC 48098557.
• Bowman, Marion (2003-03-01). "Vernacular religion and nature: The "Bible of the Folk" tradition in Newfoundland". Folklore. 114 (3): 285–295. doi:10.1080/0015587032000145333. ISSN 0015-587X.
• Bowman, Marion (2004-12-01). "Procession and possession in Glastonbury: continuity, change and the manipulation of tradition". Folklore. 115 (3): 273–285. doi:10.1080/0015587042000284266. ISSN 0015-587X.
• Bowman, Marion (2006-08-01). "The Holy Thorn Ceremony: Revival, Rivalry and Civil Religion in Glastonbury". Folklore. 117 (2): 123–140. doi:10.1080/00155870600707805. ISSN 0015-587X.
• Bowman, Marion (2009-06-01). "Learning from experience: The value of analysing Avalon". Religion. 39 (2): 161–168. doi:10.1016/j.religion.2009.01.016. ISSN 0048-721X.
• Bowman, Marion; Valk, Ülo (eds) (2014) Vernacular Religion in Everyday Life : Expressions of Belief. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-54354-1. OCLC 893333268.
• Bowman, Marion (2014) "Far from the madding crowd: Glastonbury's spiritual side". The Conversation. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
• Bowman, Marion (2016-07-27). "The contented collector: materiality, relationality and the power of things". Material Religion. 12 (3): 384–386. doi:10.1080/17432200.2016.1192159. ISSN 1743-2200.
• Coleman, Simon; Bowman, Marion (2019-01-02). "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. ISSN 0048-721X.
• Bowman, Marion; Sepp, Tiina (2019-01-02). "Caminoisation and Cathedrals: replication, the heritagisation of religion, and the spiritualisation of heritage". Religion. 49 (1): 74–98. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2018.1515325. ISSN 0048-721X.
• Bowman, Marion (2020-09-01). ""Rehabilitating" Pilgrimage in Scotland: Heritage, Protestant Pilgrimage, and Caledonian Caminos". Numen. 67 (5–6): 453–482. doi:10.1163/15685276-12341598. ISSN1568-5276.

References[]

External links[]

• "Sacred Spaces in Liminal Places: Airport Chapels and Religion in Transit" Marion Bowman delivering the Don Yoder Lecture at the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2004
• "Vernacular Religion" Podcast from the Religious Studies Project featuring David G Robertson interviewing Marion Bowman about her research into everyday experiences of religion, 2012.
• "Sacred Spaces in Secular Places - From Airports to Agoratopias" Marion Bowman speaking at the Aboagora Symposium 2012: The Power of the Sacred and the Secular, 15 August 2012
• "Marion Bowman’s ethnological sensation" Video for the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore on how Marion Bowman came to carry out research on Glastonbury, 2016.