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Kate Bowler

Associate Professor of American Religious History
Divinity School
Duke Box 90967, Durham, NC 27708
209 Gray Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications


Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs & In-Betweens

Book · January 23, 2024 If you want to build your daily habit of spiritual attentiveness, this book is here to say: May all your days be lovely. But for those that aren’t, have a beautiful, terrible day! ... Cite

The Lives We Actually Have 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

Book · February 14, 2023 BY KATE BOWLER AND JESSICA RICHIE The Lives We Actually Have : 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days Good Enough : 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection BY KATE BOWLER No Cure for Being Human ( And Other Truths I Need to Hear ) The ... ... Cite

No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear)

Book · October 4, 2022 In No Cure for Being Human, she searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of today’s “best life now” advice industry, which insists on exhausting positivity and on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, ... ... Cite

Good Enough 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection

Book · February 15, 2022 This book is a companion for when you want to stop feeling guilty that you’re not living your best life now. ... Cite

The Preacher's Wife The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities

Book · September 15, 2020 Bowler offers a sympathetic and revealing portrait of megachurch women celebrities, showing how they must balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male-dominated faiths. ... Cite

Everything Happens for a Reason And Other Lies I've Loved

Book · February 6, 2018 Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live. Praise for Everything Happens for a Reason “I fell hard and fast for Kate Bowler. ... Cite

Daily Grind: The Spiritual Workday of the American Prosperity Gospel

Journal Article Journal of Cultural Economy · September 3, 2015 Full text Cite

Bigger, Better, Louder: The Prosperity Gospel's Impact on Contemporary Christian Worship

Journal Article Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation · 2014 AbstractThis article makes several claims about the relationship between praise and worship music and prosperity megachurches. First, it argues that the prosperity gospel has had a significant impact on contemporary worship ... Full text Cite

Blessed a history of the American prosperity gospel: a history of the American prosperity gospel

Book · 2013 'Blessed' offers a comprehensive history of the rise of the American prosperity gospel. What began as diverse metaphysical, pentecostal, and self-help conceptions about the power of the mind became one of the most influential popular religious movements of ... Link to item Cite

From Far and Wide: The Canadian Faith Movement

Journal Article Church & Faith Trends · 2010 Cite

Positive Thinking

Chapter · 2010 Cite

Eliza Hart Spalding

Chapter · 2008 Cite

Matilda Thurston

Chapter · 2008 Cite

Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs & In-Betweens

Book · January 23, 2024 If you want to build your daily habit of spiritual attentiveness, this book is here to say: May all your days be lovely. But for those that aren’t, have a beautiful, terrible day! ... Cite

The Lives We Actually Have 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days

Book · February 14, 2023 BY KATE BOWLER AND JESSICA RICHIE The Lives We Actually Have : 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days Good Enough : 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection BY KATE BOWLER No Cure for Being Human ( And Other Truths I Need to Hear ) The ... ... Cite

No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear)

Book · October 4, 2022 In No Cure for Being Human, she searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of today’s “best life now” advice industry, which insists on exhausting positivity and on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, ... ... Cite

Good Enough 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection

Book · February 15, 2022 This book is a companion for when you want to stop feeling guilty that you’re not living your best life now. ... Cite

The Preacher's Wife The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities

Book · September 15, 2020 Bowler offers a sympathetic and revealing portrait of megachurch women celebrities, showing how they must balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male-dominated faiths. ... Cite

Everything Happens for a Reason And Other Lies I've Loved

Book · February 6, 2018 Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live. Praise for Everything Happens for a Reason “I fell hard and fast for Kate Bowler. ... Cite

Daily Grind: The Spiritual Workday of the American Prosperity Gospel

Journal Article Journal of Cultural Economy · September 3, 2015 Full text Cite

Bigger, Better, Louder: The Prosperity Gospel's Impact on Contemporary Christian Worship

Journal Article Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation · 2014 AbstractThis article makes several claims about the relationship between praise and worship music and prosperity megachurches. First, it argues that the prosperity gospel has had a significant impact on contemporary worship ... Full text Cite

Blessed a history of the American prosperity gospel: a history of the American prosperity gospel

Book · 2013 'Blessed' offers a comprehensive history of the rise of the American prosperity gospel. What began as diverse metaphysical, pentecostal, and self-help conceptions about the power of the mind became one of the most influential popular religious movements of ... Link to item Cite

From Far and Wide: The Canadian Faith Movement

Journal Article Church & Faith Trends · 2010 Cite

Positive Thinking

Chapter · 2010 Cite

Eliza Hart Spalding

Chapter · 2008 Cite

Matilda Thurston

Chapter · 2008 Cite