Carl Desportes Bowman

Senior Fellow

Sociologist and Research Director

For twenty years, Carl Desportes Bowman has directed social surveys of American public culture—among them, the Institute’s surveys on The State of Disunion, The Politics of Character and Difference and Democracy. He also directed two benchmark national surveys of cultural trends within the Church of the Brethren. Prior to becoming a Fellow at the Institute, he was for many years a Professor of Sociology at Bridgewater College and has worked as a Senior Statistical Software Consultant with Cranes International in Bangalore, India.

Recognized as a leading cultural historian of the Brethren, an Anabaptist-related group, Bowman’s scholarship has resulted in Brethren Society: The Cultural Transformation of a “Peculiar People” (Johns Hopkins), Portrait of a People: The Church of the Brethren at 300 (Brethren Press), and numerous articles and reviews. Additionally, he is co-author of On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren (with Donald Kraybill, Johns Hopkins).

Broadly speaking, Bowman’s work explores the cultural dynamics of religious minorities as they navigate the tensions and challenges posed by the broader culture. His current project focuses upon the cultural transformation of the Brethren since the mid-twentieth century.

Portrait of a People: The Church of the Brethren at 300. Brethren Press, 2008.

The Brethren Encyclopedia. Vol. 4, Consulting Editor with Donald F. Durnbaugh and Dale V. Ulrich, Co-editors, Brethren Encyclopedia, Inc., 2006.

“The Brethren.” Encyclopedia of Christianity, edited by John Bowden, Oxford University Press, 2005.

“Emerging Biotechnologies: A Historical Perspective.” Viewing New Creations with Anabaptist Eyes: Ethics of Biotechnology, edited by Roman J. Miller, Beryl H. Brubaker, and James C. Peterson, Cascadia Publishing House, 2005.

“For Most Americans, Patriotism Isn’t in Question.” The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 20 Oct. 2005, p. A13.

“Survey Report: The Evidence for Empire.” Hedgehog Review: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture, Spring 2003.

“Why I Want to Wear Black.” Where Was God on September 11?, edited by Donald B. Kraybill and Linda Gehman Peachey, Herald Press, 2002.

On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren. With Donald B. Kraybill, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Character and Democracy. With James Davison Hunter, In Media Res Foundation, 2000.

“The Brethren Family: A Century of Change and Challenge.” Report of the Proceedings of the Second Brethren World Assembly, Brethren Encyclopedia, Inc., 1999.

The State of Disunion: 1996 Survey of American Political Culture. Vols. 1–2, With James Davison Hunter, In Media Res Foundation, 1996.

“Reflections on Brethren History and Society.” Brethren Life and Thought, 1996.