A Mennonite Boy's Odyssey

A Mennonite Boy's Odyssey is a story of courage and discovery. Some individuals are fully content to embrace answers provided by their own elders to life's great questions. For others, their elders' way proves untenable. They must forge their own path, awakening through assimilation from alternate sources.
A Mennonite Boy's Odyssey traces one such awakening, a life journey of spiritual development from growing up Mennonite in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s, through decades of reading, thought, and enquiry. The book balances life experience with intellectual and spiritual transformation.
This book is an accounting of a Hero's Journey, in the parlance of Joseph Campbell.


""Bernie Bowman takes his reader on an intimate journey from childhood beliefs to adult doubts and reformations. Anyone who shares such a journey or who is about to embark on one will find Bowman's story to be an inviting, interesting, and trustworthy guide.""
--David Galston, Academic Director, Westar Institute

Bernard Bowman currently resides in Maryville, Tennessee, with his wife, Carol Gingerich Bowman. He is father to Megan and John, and grandfather to Witt. Currently semi-retired, Bowman had a thirty-five year career as CEO of three different not-for-profit retirement community organizations. He graduated from Eastern Mennonite University and holds a Masters in Hospital and Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota. He has enjoyed community service. While living in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, he chaired the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission before being elected to serve on the City Council. In Maryville he has chaired the United Way board of directors and the board of trustees of the Blount County Public Library. He currently serves on the Alcoa Aluminum Company's Foundation Community Advisory Board. His interest in genealogy and family history resulted in two books, George and Barbara Bowman: Immigrants and Bowman House Builders and A Tribute to Oma Wenger Bowman (And Her Valley Wenger Ancestors).