111 episodes
Everything Happens with Kate Bowler Duke University
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- Society & Culture
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4.8 • 3.3K Ratings
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Life isn't always bright and shiny, as Kate Bowler knows. Kate is a young mother, writer and professor who, at age 35, was suddenly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. In, warm, insightful, often funny conversations, Kate talks with people about what they've learned in dark times. Kate teaches at Duke Divinity School and is author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) and No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear). Find her online at @katecbowler.
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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby: Suspicious of Joy
In this special episode, Kate visited the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at Lambeth Palace in London.
In this funny and poignant conversation, the Archbishop and Kate discuss:
Why sometimes we feel God’s love (or don’t)
How to pray when you have run out of words (he gives us permission to be impolite with God)
Why he is suspicious of joy, and why they both use the theology of Winnie the Pooh
How people in emotionally expensive professions can feel permission to do small acts of love (and angry when it’s not enough)
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for blessings all summer long.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Looking for some short spiritual reflections? Check out GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
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Susan Cain: Survival of the Kindest
How is it that joy and pain seem to coexist at once? Susan Cain (author of the bestseller Quiet) explores this question in her new book, Bittersweet.
In this conversation, Kate and Susan discuss:
How we are literally hardwired for compassion
Susan’s advice for pushing back against compassion fatigue
How that feeling of longing isn’t something to be ashamed of but allows us to see things clearly—the beautiful and the terrible
If you ever feel like you didn’t have a word for the sweetness of longings (and why your compassionate heart is a gift), this conversation is for you.
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Looking for some short spiritual reflections? Check out GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
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Haider Warraich: Embracing the Complexity of Pain
When a random weight-lifting accident left cardiologist Dr. Haider Warraich in chronic pain, he went from being a physician to being a patient in one moment. His experience of chronic pain gives him a hard won insight as he reexamines how we understand and treat pain.
In this conversation, Kate and Haider discuss:
the difference between pain and suffering
why pain might be subjective, yet should be taken just as seriously (and perhaps invites doctors to not just treat blood work or an x-ray, but the patient in front of them)
why we should erase the arbitrary demarkations between mind and body when it comes to understanding and treating chronic pain
the value of accepting the reality of pain as a fundamental truth of being human (and why that doesn’t mean “it’s all in your head”)
If you are someone (or loves someone) who suffers from chronic pain, this episode is for you. Haider talks with such gentleness about when your pain isn’t believed and how doctors can do a better job at treating their patients in pain.
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
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Tara Westover: Remaking Home
What do we do when our families are sources of pain, confusion, or harm? How do we (or can we) outgrow our complicated childhoods when we no longer need the defenses we created?
Today, I am speaking with Tara Westover. Tara earned her PhD in history from Cambridge, which is incredible on its own, but particularly when you remember that she had never stepped foot in a classroom until she was 17. She is the author of the bestselling memoir EDUCATED which describes growing up in a survivalist family and her costly pursuit of learning and unlearning.
In this conversation, Kate and Tara discuss:
How to navigate the religious baggage of our childhoods
Learning to hold people’s point of views but without letting go of your own
Why people aren’t always doing their best (and why knowing that helps restore some dignity)
How to approach people who have different worldviews than us
How to outgrow the defenses we develop as kids in painful or abusive homes
CW: physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
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Anna Sale: Hard Topics, Softer Conversations
Our culture seems convinced that going off-script is unbecoming. Instead, we are rewarded for being buttoned up, perfect (or at least appearing to be), and never ever no-matter-what admit weakness. But… don’t we need each other, especially when facing the most difficult moments?
Author and Death, Sex, and Money podcast host Anna Sale leans into every hard conversation no matter how difficult the topic. In this conversation, Kate and Anna discuss:
How conversations might engender the intimacy we need to get by
Fostering the right interpersonal and listening skills it takes to approach a difficult topic (especially when you’re feeling nervous)
Best practices for responding to someone’s hard news
How learning to listen might bridge differences of all kinds
What do we lose when we don’t talk about hard things? And what might we gain if we do?
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Cammie McGovern: Mythbusting Parenting
We often have very romantic expectations about parenthood. Parenthood is about a mythical child who will be perfect in a way we haven’t quite put our finger on, and the journey to love them will teach us something reasonably easy about ourselves. But what if we are not the parents we thought we’d be? Or our kids are not the kids we thought we’d have.
Writer Cammie McGovern’s oldest son, Ethan, was diagnosed with autism as a small child. Soon though, he was not just a toddler learning how to play or a child needing adjustments in the classroom. He is an adult who wants to participate in the world, and Cammie is still determined to learn what it means to be an advocate for him and others living with disabilities as they enter adulthood.
In this conversation, Kate and Cammie discuss:
The myths parents of children with autism might face
How to build inclusive communities (and how both parties might benefit from them)
How the role of every parent is to discover their kid for the mystery and wonder they are
Why parenting shouldn’t always be about becoming heroes or martyrs and how we might need communities and systems that better support our needs
This heartwarming conversation covers everything from love to policy and everything in between, as Cammie describes her son and his future.
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Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.
No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.
Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.
Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Customer Reviews
Another club member
I am so thankful to have learned about Kate and her podcasts and her beautiful and poignant books. My husband has a less well known blood cancer that is incurable, and his particular case is extremely aggressive. We didn’t get the life we dreamed of or worked toward; we got the life we got. And I for one have stopped trying to fit it into any sort of narrative that makes any kind of sense. We loved reading Everything Happens, which helped us reinforce and find solace in the power of NOW. We unwillingly and maybe undeservingly became part of this club nobody wants to be a part of. And we are grateful for experiencing Kate’s gift.
Deeply moving. Honest. Beautiful.
This podcast has been so healing for me. For all of the feelings. It’s helping me process difficult feelings / emotions / grief / all the things in a really honest and beautiful way. If you need a solid, honest, deep podcast…this is it. ❤️
A Place for Pain
Thank you. I was introduced to your podcast by a friend who tagged me on your interview with Dr. Warraich. I listen to podcasts on my morning walks. I live with a pain related autoimmune disease and I didn’t expect to be so emotionally touched by your conversation with each other. I cried from minute 4-5 in, all the way to the blessing. I actually had to sit in my car to gather myself long after the episode was done. Thank you for validating, encouraging, and giving of your time and experiences. My prayers are with you both as you walk through life burdened and blessed with disease.