Peggy Morgan and the Support of Twentieth Century Scholars of Religion

  • Elizabeth J. Harris Birmingham University

Abstract

This paper merges autobiography with developments in the field of religious studies in Britain in the twentieth century. Using a narrative method, it begins in the 1980s with the ‘religious experience’ that eventually led the author to embrace the methods of religious studies. Within this narrative, Peggy Morgan’s influence on the author’s development is examined, both when she was resident in Sri Lanka and when she was working with Morgan at Westminster College in the mid-1990s.The aim of the paper is to illustrate Morgan’s support of younger scholars, her contribution to socially relevant expressions of the study of religions and her engagement with the emerging phenomenon of interreligious encounter. The paper, therefore, reflects on the history of religious studies, at a critical point in its development, whilst at the same time offering a tribute to Peggy Morgan. 

Keywords: phenomenology; experience; authority; interreligious; gender.

Published
2021-08-03