When Duke divinity school professor Kate Bowler wrote her best-selling memoir, “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved),” she was grappling with the consequences of a shocking cancer diagnosis. Many of the common messages about hardship, tragedy and success that she’d grown up hearing – and even studied as a religious scholar – no longer seemed to make sense. She was told she may likely die from her cancer, and at age 35 with a husband and young son, she wasn’t ready for that. Bowler talks about how being sick changed her relationship to her life, her body and her spirituality with Krista Tippett, the host of the public radio show and podcast On Being. This special On Being episode was taped live with an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival. aspenideas.org

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related