Professor explores faith, will in Guide
Donna Bowman sees theological questions everywhere.
Bowman, a professor at the University of Central Arkansas’ Norbert O. Schedler Honors College, said something as simple as watching a movie can cause her to ponder questions about free will.
Do people have free will, or does “the sovereignty of God” supersede that?
Other quandaries, such as the inherent nature of human beings, are among those Bowman addresses in her latest book, The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Being Human: Becoming the Best Bag of Bones You Can Be.
The book, which was released in May, is part of a series created by Tripp Fuller, founder and head of the Homebrewed Christianity podcast. The podcast, which debuted in 2008, has grown to have a listener base of more than 40,000, and Bowman has been a featured guest on the podcast several times.
It wasn’t until Bowman attended college that she said she discovered there were ways of studying religion “that weren’t Sunday School.” Liberation theology and the social gospel — in which Christianity emphasizes carrying out one’s faith through good works in response to social justice issues — introduced Bowman to new ways of thinking about Christianity.
In writing Being Human, Bowman said her purpose was to get people to understand a broader view of Christianity, and expand the possibilities for young people in particular of what it means to follow Christ, and elevate their understanding of the topic — as hers was elevated as a youth.
“Christianity is about a lot more than purity rings and prayer meetings,” Bowman said.
Humanity isn’t about being, but about doing, Bowman said, and referred to a longtime question in theology: Which is more important, the body or the soul? The philosopher Plato argued that the body and soul are separate entities, and according to Bowman, early Christianity adopted Plato’s idea of dualism as a framework for understanding Jesus’ incarnation.
“The human is inexorably tangled with the humane,” Bowman said with regard to the inherent nature of human beings. “When we ask about our inherent morality, we are not really wondering whether human nature is good or evil. We are exploring whether it’s reasonable to hope that all of us can join the human project. Humanity in this moral sense is an achievement, a destiny, rather than a birthright.”
One of the courses Bowman teaches addresses the question “Can we be religious people and still live in a healthy, flourishing way?” Although Bowman said views and opinions on the question will vary between people and between faiths, the inevitable factor in approaching such a topic is acknowledging that humans are social by nature.
“… Aristotle said that we can’t possibly understand human nature and purpose if we’re looking at people one at a time,” Bowman said. “Humans are political animals. Our instinct is toward interaction, toward community, toward sallying forth on the rough seas of survival in company.
“Whatever we are, for better or worse, it appears when we gather.”