Meet Kate
Kate Bowler, PhD is a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and a professor at Duke University. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. In her twenties, she became obsessed with writing the first history of the movement called the “prosperity gospel”—which promises that God will reward you with health and wealth if you have the right kind of faith. She researched and traveled across Canada and the United States interviewing megachurch leaders and televangelists and everyday believers about how they make spiritual meaning out of the good and bad in their lives. The result was the book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, which received widespread media attention and a lot of puns about being #blessed.
At age 35, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, causing her to think in different terms about the research and beliefs she had been studying. She penned the New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved), which tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character.
On her popular podcast, Everything Happens, Kate speaks with people like Malcolm Gladwell, Beth Moore, Archbishop of Cantebury Justin Welby, and Anne Lamott about what wisdom and truth they’ve uncovered during difficult circumstances.
In her bestselling memoir, No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear), Kate grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with limitations in a culture that promises anything is possible.
Kate has also written a devotional with her producer, Jessica Richie, which is called Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. In this book, she takes what she has learned about our self-help-obsessed culture and written reflections on what it would mean to embrace our imperfect, good enough lives. Kate and Jessica’s latest book is called The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. In this book of blessings, they continue to focus on gratitude and hope while acknowledging our messy and imperfect lives.
Kate’s work has received wide-spread media attention from The Today Show, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. Her TED talk has been viewed more than 10 million times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her family, and continues to teach do-gooders of all kinds.
My husband, Toban and I at prom. 
I will forever and always take a detour to see the World's Largest or World's Smallest. 
This is me, probably being awarded the Most Cheerful Cancer Patient Award. 
In 2015, I was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35. In this New York Times op-ed, I write about the irony of being an expert in health, wealth and happiness while being ill.
My third book is called The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities (Princeton University Press, October 2019). It follows the rise of celebrity Christian women in American evangelicalism. Whether they stand alone or beside their husbands, they are leading women who play many parts: faithful wife, spiritual authority, and Hollywood celebrity.
My New York Times bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved) (Random House, 2018), tells the story of my struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character.
Life isn't always shiny. But why is it so hard to speak frankly about suffering? This question is the backdrop behind my podcast, Everything Happens, where, in warm, insightful, often funny conversations, I talk with people about what they’ve learned in dark times.
