@mbbowman profile picture
Matthew Bowman @mbbowman
Joined March 2011
  • Tweets 138
  • Following 471
  • Followers 699
5 Photos and videos
I wrote a thing on high strangeness, UFOs, and the hard work of human relationships in Steven Spielberg movies. slate.com/culture/2026/06/di…

UFO Believers Are Losing Their Minds Over Steven Spielberg’s New Movie. I Understand Why.

Disclosure Day makes it clear Spielberg is deep in the weeds of today’s debates about alleged alien encounters. But it’s really about something deeper.

slate.com
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Interintellect 🧭
@interintellect_
5 Nov 2025
Alien abduction, New Age spirituality & American counterculture. Author @mbbowman joins theologian Tara Isabella Burton for a deep dive into the Betty & Barney Hill case, UFO lore, and the rise of alternative belief systems. Watch the full conversation: youtu.be/mfZc4nYaqQg
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Cambridge University Press - Management@CambUP_MGMT
13 Dec 2024
New Cambridge Element Mormonism by @Mbbowman is now free to read for 4 weeks! cup.org/49vsgD6 #cambridgeelements #management
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Attention: Contrary to some reviewers I think the plot of CONCLAVE exists in a world in which Catholic theology is true and that the conclave is guided by the Holy Spirit and divine intervention to make the choice God wants. sltrib.com/religion/2024/11/…

Commentary: What the movie ‘Conclave’ says about belief in God in a secular age

Mormon scholar Matthew Bowman on what "Conclave" teaches us about secularism and faith.

sltrib.com
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Illinois Press@IllinoisPress
8 Oct 2024
"Smith was one of the most significant theologians in Mormon history and certainly the most significant in the 20th century, yet there has to date been no scholarly study of his work." @mbbowman answers questions about his #newbook on the UIP blog  press.uillinois.edu/wordpres…
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My favorite James Earl Jones: as Barney Hill in "The UFO Incident." Jones produced and starred in this movie because he saw the story of the first American UFO abduction as a metaphor for race in the US. More in my book; movie in comments. amazon.com/Abduction-Betty-B…

The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America

    In the mid-1960s, Betty and Barney Hill became famous as the first Americans to claim that aliens had taken them aboard a spacecraft against their will. Their story—involving a lonely highway...

amazon.com
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youtube.com/watch?v=58Hm6pbd… Jones's performance is remarkable. Betty and Barney Hill came to believe in their abduction by aliens after months of hypnosis, and much of the film is Jones and Estelle Parsons (as Betty) reciting the hypnosis transcripts. It's often riveting.
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Coming soon, folks.
Illinois Press@IllinoisPress
19 Jul 2024
Happy Birthday, Joseph Fielding Smith! Incisive and illuminating, @mbbowman's JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH (go.illinois.edu/f24bowman) examines the worldview and development of an influential theologian and his place in American religious and intellectual history. cc: @cgunews
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Worst baby thing: pajamas that button all the way up the front and both legs. Second worst baby thing: pinkeye.
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Lockdown Book Detective@BookLockdown
5 Jun 2024
Replying to @Unwise_Trousers
One highly recommended UFO book that has gotten very little notice: The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America by Matthew Bowman (Yale 2023). A cultural and political look at the ur-alien abduction story. @mbbowman
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If you've been waiting to get a copy of THE ABDUCTION OF BETTY AND BARNEY HILL until it's only $15, now's your chance. Go to this website, enter Y24SAVE50 at checkout. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780…
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excellent, @SusCrockford
Ben Manripeem@BradleyOnishi
5 Apr 2024
Replying to @BradleyOnishi
In May, we will publish Miss Information by @SusCrockford, A limited series podcast about the ways online misinformation and sonspiracy theories infiltrate wellness communities and conservative Christian spaces.
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Tamarra Kemsley@tamarranicole
10 Apr 2024
Drug cartel violence claimed this #LDS teen. How his congregation rallied in response. If you would, take a moment to read and share this woman's story. sltrib.com/religion/2024/04/…

Drug cartel violence claimed this LDS teen. How his congregation rallied in response.

How this LDS convert living along the U.S.-Mexico border clung to her faith after her son’s murder.

sltrib.com
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Interintellect 🧭
@interintellect_
2 Apr 2024
What is the history of alternative spirituality in the US and what does this tell us about the American counterculture? Watch a replay of our recent salon with writer and theologian @NotoriousTIB and theology professor and author @mbbowman youtube.com/watch?v=mfZc4nYa…
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Interintellect 🧭
@interintellect_
12 Mar 2024
In 24 hours: @mbbowman on what an abduction story can tell us about 1960s American society, and the countercultural roots of contemporary American spirituality with @NotoriousTIB. interintellect.com/salon/fro…
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Interintellect 🧭
@interintellect_
7 Mar 2024
Today fewer and fewer Americans than ever before identify as traditionally religious, but what might be taking that place instead of pure secularism? Join @mbbowman and @NotoriousTIB for a conversation on aliens, conspiracy, New Age, and more. interintellect.com/salon/fro…

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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Interintellect 🧭
@interintellect_
16 Feb 2024
Just listed ✨ Join theology professor and author @mbbowman in conversation with novelist and theologian @NotoriousTIB for a wide-ranging salon about alien abduction, the New Age, and the countercultural roots of contemporary American spirituality. interintellect.com/salon/fro…
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Matthew Bowman retweeted
Yale University Press@yalepress
12 Jan 2024
The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill by @mbbowman receives a five star review from @CTmagazine, with Daniel J. Hummel writing, “the book manages to recast big trends in American life through a story that is smaller in scope and more intimate in detail.” christianitytoday.com/ct/202…

Close Encounters of the Elite Institutional Kind - Christianity Today

How a contested alien abduction claim from the 1960s helps explain modern cynicism toward credentialed experts and organizations.

christianitytoday.com
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Thanks so much, @danielghummel
Christianity Today
@CTmagazine
5 Jan 2024
𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝 How a contested alien abduction claim from the 1960s helps explain modern cynicism toward credentialed experts and organizations. @danielghummel writes: christianitytoday.com/ct/202…
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I opened this article because it's pertinent to my interests. I was not expecting @DouthatNYT to invoke my book, but am gratified he takes seriously what UFOs can tell us about the strangeness of modern religion. The book is here: amazon.com/Abduction-Betty-B… nytimes.com/2023/11/15/opini…

The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America

    In the mid-1960s, Betty and Barney Hill became famous as the first Americans to claim that aliens had taken them aboard a spacecraft against their will. Their story—involving a lonely highway...

amazon.com
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