Kate Bowler

Associate professor, author, podcast host

Kate Bowler is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host and an associate professor of American religious history at Duke Divinity School. She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. She is the author of “Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel” and “The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities.” 

After being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35, Bowler wrote the New York Times bestselling memoir, “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)” and “No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear)” as well as “Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens.” She has also co-written with Jessica Richie “Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection” and “The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days.” Bowler's most recent book, “Joyful Anyway,” reveals the surprising magic of joy  and how we can access it even when happiness feels out of reach. 

She hosts the award-winning Everything Happens podcast where she talks with people like Malcolm Gladwell and Beth Moore about what they’ve learned in difficult times. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her family.