Thea Bowman: A 20th Century Theologian and Her Impact on Education

This essay delves into the life and contributions of Thea Bowman, a significant 20th-century educational philosopher and the first African-American Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. It highlights her influence on religious education, particularly her work in promoting intercultural awar...Read More

Running head: THEA BOWMAN
Thea Bowman
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1THEA BOWMAN
Thea Bowman was the first and the only African-American Franciscan Sister of
Perpetual Adoration. She was born in 29 December, 1937 in the Yazoo City of Mississippi.
Bowman was the most notable African American Catholic sister of her times. Later, her
family moved to Canton, MS. It is to note that Bowman was initially a Methodist, however,
later, she became a Roman Catholic when she was nine years old and was also baptised on 8th
of June in the year 1947. Presently, Thea Bowman is popular for her saintliness in Roman
Catholic Churches throughout the world. However, this paper is going to shed light on the
life of Theo Bowman- the most significant 20th century educational philosophers. It would
further elaborate on her works, her life span, her major influences in the church as well as her
direct influence on the religious education.
Thea Bowman was gifted with a very brilliant mind, along with dynamic personality
and beautiful voice. She used to share the message of God’s love by means of teaching
children. After her 16years of teaching, at the elementary, secondary and the university level,
Thea Bowman was invited to become the main consultant for the intercultural awareness by
the bishop of Jackson, Mississippi (Harris, 2017). Through story, dance, drama and poetry,
Bowman have evangelized and catechized, while communicating the freedom, pride and joy.
All the insights of her were rooted in the social and political truths of children and the
grandchildren of the earlier slaves. However, in her role as consultant Sister, Bowman used to
give presentations all over the country by means of lively gatherings which used to get
combined with gospel preaching, singing, storytelling and prayers. It was Thea Bowman who
showed how man can preserve the teaching values and history through music. All her
programs were directed to break down the cultural and the racial barriers (Billings, 2018).
She have also motivated and encouraged the people for communicating with each other in
order to ensure that they can understand the other races and cultures. After progressing
successfully by means of the formative years of the religious life as well as the academic

2THEA BOWMAN
world, Thea Bowman had received a doctorate in the subject of English literature and
linguistics from the Catholic University of America.
Thea was blessed from some really extraordinary talents. She was a poet, a preacher,
a vocalist, a master teacher as well as evangelist too. With the same, she was also a catalyst.
Beside all her main philosophical contributions, Thea Bowman have also taught people in the
country about the other vital ideas. All these ideas refers to the working assumptions in
absence of which the work of Bowman would not have been developed (Winstead, 2017).
These ideas were just as vital as her major philosophical contributions, however, all these
ideas are not given such attention by the other scholars. The ideas, works and thoughts of
Bowman were basically influenced by her historical context as well as her own life
experiences. With the same, it is also affected by the American history. Her saintliness in
Roman Catholic Churches throughout the world. In 1950s, Thea Bowman also began
teaching in one of the Catholic elementary schools in La Crosse. At those time, it was
regarded to be one of the rarest position for any African-American woman.
Thea was reared up in community where religious teaching was considered to be a
very treasured part among the old uncles, elder grandparents and aunts and even for the other
church members. With the same, most of the best teachers were not educated formally but
they were well aware of the scriptures. At the same time, they also believed that living word
need to be both celebrated and shared. All these teachings were very short, simple and were
well-equipped with knowledge. Moreover, she was highly influenced by Daniel Jonah,
David, Joshua Miriam. Their thoughts and ideas have influenced her to a great terms.
Furthermore, the thought of Bowman were basically influenced by her historical context as
well as by her own experiences along with the the history of America (Thompson, 2015).

3THEA BOWMAN
As per Winstead (2017), Thea Bowman was a freedom fighter. She felt a very special
calling for helping the black. The Catholics realised the unique gifts that they brought to the
church and for helping the church openly received and appreciate all these treasures.
Bowman was completely aware of the “invisibility” of the black Catholics at that time in the
American Church. The condition was so due to the legacy of the racism. With the same, she
have shown her agreement with the writing of the black Catholic bishops of the United States
which stated that- “Blacks and other minorities still remain absent from aspects of Catholic
life and are only meagrely represented on the decision-making level.... This racism, at once
subtle and masked, still festers within our Church as within our society”. She was the one to
recognise that until and unless the Catholic Church would respond, most of the gifts of the
black community would be lost. She urged the bishops for helping the black community to
get necessary and proper education that she believed was the only way for diminishing
poverty. Thea has also known the poor education opportunities in one of the segregated
public school and all her life had been transformed in radical way by the Catholic education
that she had gained from the Franciscan sisters.
In 1985, Bowman was also told to edit and coordinate the articles from the black and
other scholars along with the community leaders for one of her very vital books. The Catholic
Conference of bishop in United States had commissioned her for making a compilation of a
book for the ministers and the other ones who worked in black Catholic community. It was
the book that included every concerns and thoughts of black community and folks of diverse
perspectives and faiths. Such an effort of her has been up by all the leading scholars of
religious education. She have also struggled a lot for encouraging and highlighting the
concerns of the black people. Thea Bowman’s works are a great reason for the celebration.
She have also documented all her influences and supports in majority of her works. Many
scholars have agreed that her contribution have aided to the religious education. As per

4THEA BOWMAN
Winstead (2017), “She was song. She was the joyous Franciscan always”. Her entire life,
ideas and works, all served for the purpose of ameliorating the living conditions of the then
oppressed population. Bowman has introduced a theory that had a very significant impact on
the contemporary progressive as well as on the radical religious educators.
Bowman’s philosophy was greatly in-line with the bottom-up organisation of the
theology of liberation, the grassroots, that have focused on the importance of the practise of
teachings of Jesus Christ rather than if obediently just following the well-established
hierarchy of orthodox church. It has a very strong impact on modern progressive and also on
the radical religious educators as well. She was the one to show how man can preserve the
teaching values and history through music. All her programs were directed to break down the
cultural and the racial barriers (Billings, 2018). She have also motivated and encouraged the
people for communicating with each other in order to ensure that they can understand the
other races and cultures. After progressing successfully by means of the formative years of
the religious life as well as the academic world, Thea Bowman had received a doctorate in
the subject of English literature and linguistics from the Catholic University of America.
Bowman used to give presentations all over the country by means of lively gatherings which
used to get combined with gospel preaching, singing, storytelling and prayers. Her entrance
with liberation theology onto the American education scene at the time of 1960 was very
well-timed. It was greatly reinforced a movement towards the social reforms as well as on the
social justice which was developing within the mainstream culture. Moreover, it is also to
note that Bowman have made significant efforts for bridging the gap in between his proposed
theory and the practice of adult religious education by making use of certain principles. It has
also made them to love. Beside all her major philosophical contributions, she have also taught
about the other significant ideas.

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From the above analysis it is clear that Thea Bowman was a very important link in
between the American Community and Roman Catholicism. Being raised up as Christian
Methodist, she converted herself into Catholic in the age of just nine years and took her very
first communion then. Moreover, she was also the one to struggle for the black Catholics to
ensure that they are given proper education and poverty is diminished from their community.
She also struggled a lot for encouraging and highlighting the concerns of theirs. She have also
made some significant efforts for bridging the gap in between her proposed theory and the
practice of adult religious education.

6THEA BOWMAN
References:
Billings, J. T. (2018). Christian Dying: Witnesses from the Tradition. Wipf and Stock
Publishers.
Harris, K. R. (2017). Sister Thea Bowman: Liturgical Justice Through Black Sacred
Song. US Catholic Historian, 35(1), 99-124.
Thompson, M. S. (2015). Sisters and the creation of American Catholic identities.
In Education, Identity and Women Religious, 1800-1950 (pp. 119-136). Routledge.
Walker, A., & Smith, C. (2017). Thea Bowman. Retrieved from
https://www.biola.edu/talbot/ce20/database/thea-bowman
Winstead, K. (2017). “Authentically Black, and Truly Catholic”: A survey of the study on
Black Catholics. Sociology Compass, 11(10), e12517.
Winstead, K. C. (2017). Black Catholicism and Black Lives Matter: the process towards
joining a movement. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), 1855-1863.