{"title":"Kate Bowler","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"everything-happens-for-a-reason-and-other-lies-i-ve-loved-9780399592065b","title":"Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved","description":"Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God's disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward \"blessing.\" She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with \"a surge of determination.\" Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you \"can't do\" and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. 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.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42817832550480,"sku":"9780399592065B","price":12.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780399592065-l.jpg?v=1785866592"},{"product_id":"good-enough-40ish-devotionals-for-a-life-of-imperfection-9780593193686b","title":"Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER • A compassionate, intelligent, and wry series of Christian daily reflections on learning to live with imperfection in a culture of self-help that promotes endless progress, from the author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason\u003c\/i\u003e and the executive producer of the \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens\u003c\/i\u003e podcast\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Brilliant, hilarious, absurd, honest, hopeful, true-hearted, and good to the core.”—Sarah Bessey, editor of \u003ci\u003eA Rhythm of Prayer\u003c\/i\u003e and author of \u003ci\u003eJesus Feminist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Kate Bowler’s bestselling memoir\u003ci\u003e Everything Happens for a Reason\u003c\/i\u003e, readers witnessed the ways she, as a divinity-school professor and young mother, reckoned with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis; in her follow-up memoir, \u003ci\u003eNo Cure for Being Human\u003c\/i\u003e, she unflinchingly and winsomely unpacked the ways that life becomes both hard and beautiful when we abandon certainty and the illusion of control in our lives. Now, in their first-ever devotional book, Kate Bowler and co-author Jessica Richie offer 40ish short spiritual reflections on how we can make sense of life not as a pursuit of endless progress but as a chronic condition. This book is a companion for when you want to stop feeling guilty that you’re not living your best life now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten gently and with humor, \u003ci\u003eGood Enough\u003c\/i\u003e is permission for all those who need to hear that there are some things you can fix—and some things you can’t. And it’s okay that life isn’t always better. In these gorgeously written reflections, Bowler and Richie offer fresh imagination for how truth, beauty, and meaning can be discovered amid the chaos of life. Their words celebrate kindness, honesty, and interdependence in a culture that rewards ruthless individualism and blind optimism. Ultimately, in these pages we can rest in the encouragement to strive for what is possible today—while recognizing that though we are finite, the life in front of us can be beautiful.","brand":"Convergent Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42870644539472,"sku":"9780593193686B","price":12.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593193686-l.jpg?v=1785880379"},{"product_id":"have-a-beautiful-terrible-day-daily-meditations-for-the-ups-9780593727676b","title":"Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs \u0026 In-Betweens","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER • Witty, honest, and wise spiritual reflections that invite readers to embrace the bad, not just the good—from the four-time \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKate Bowler believes that the cultural pressure to be cheerful and optimistic at all times has taken a toll on our faith. But what if we could find better language than forced positivity to express our hopes and our anxieties? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHave a Beautiful, Terrible Day!\u003c\/i\u003e is packed with bite-size reflections and action-oriented steps to help you get through the day, be it good, bad, or totally mediocre. This is a devotional for the rest of us—which is to say, the people who don’t have magical lives that always work out for the best. As she composed these meditations during a season of chronic pain, Bowler understands how every day can be an obstacle course. She encourages us to develop our capacity to feel the breadth of our experiences. The better we are at identifying our highs and lows, the more resilient we become.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike modern-day psalms, Bowler’s spiritual reflections look for the ways we can expand our capacity for courage, love, and honesty—while discovering divine moments with God. With bonus sections to use during the seasons of Advent and Lent, this is an easy book to read along with other people too. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you want to build your daily habit of spiritual attentiveness, this book is here to say: \u003ci\u003eMay all your days be lovely. But for those that aren’t, have a beautiful, terrible day!\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Convergent Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42870130868304,"sku":"9780593727676B","price":13.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593727676-l.jpg?v=1785881377"},{"product_id":"no-cure-for-being-human-and-other-truths-i-need-to-hear-9780593230770b","title":"No Cure for Being Human: (And Other Truths I Need to Hear)","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved)\u003c\/i\u003e asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you really want is \u003ci\u003ejust \u003c\/i\u003eout of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKate Bowler believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, until she discovered, at age thirty-five, that her body was wracked with cancer. In \u003ci\u003eNo Cure for Being Human\u003c\/i\u003e, 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, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness. We are, she finds, as fragile as the day we were born. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith dry wit and unflinching honesty, Kate Bowler grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with her limitations in a culture that says anything is possible. She finds that we need one another if we’re going to tell the truth: Life is beautiful and terrible, full of hope and despair and everything in between—and there’s no cure for being human.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42870780985424,"sku":"9780593230770B","price":11.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593230770-l.jpg?v=1785902372"},{"product_id":"no-cure-for-being-human-and-other-truths-i-need-to-hear-9780593230794b","title":"No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear)","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eEverything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved)\u003c\/i\u003e asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you really want is \u003ci\u003ejust \u003c\/i\u003eout of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKate Bowler believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, until she discovered, at age thirty-five, that her body was wracked with cancer. In \u003ci\u003eNo Cure for Being Human\u003c\/i\u003e, 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, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness. We are, she finds, as fragile as the day we were born. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith dry wit and unflinching honesty, Kate Bowler grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with her limitations in a culture that says anything is possible. She finds that we need one another if we’re going to tell the truth: Life is beautiful and terrible, full of hope and despair and everything in between—and there’s no cure for being human.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42869733425232,"sku":"9780593230794B","price":11.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593230794-l.jpg?v=1785907897"},{"product_id":"everything-happens-for-a-reason-and-other-lies-i-ve-loved-9780399592089b","title":"Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved","description":"Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God's disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward \"blessing.\" She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with \"a surge of determination.\" Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you \"can't do\" and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. 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.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42869710782544,"sku":"9780399592089B","price":10.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780399592089-l.jpg?v=1785908188"},{"product_id":"the-lives-we-actually-have-100-blessings-for-imperfect-days-9780593193709b","title":"The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days","description":"\u003cb\u003eWarm and witty blessings found within the struggles of our shared humanity, from the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling authors of \u003ci\u003eGood Enough\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBlessed are you, the strange duck.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou with the very intense hobbies.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOr the collection of movies or mugs or sneakers.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou with the hometown or home team that makes you very, very proud.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou, my dear, in all your intricacies . . . are a marvel.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe live in a world that demands relentless perfection. Happy marriages and easy friendships. Bucket list–level adventures and matching family photos. But what if our actual lives don’t feel very #blessed? Might our everyday existence be worthy of a blessing too? Even an average Tuesday?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKate Bowler and Jessica Richie offer creative, faith-based blessings that center gratitude and hope while acknowledging our real, messy lives. Formatted like a prayer book, \u003ci\u003eThe Lives We Actually Have\u003c\/i\u003e is an oasis and a landing spot for weary souls, with blessings that focus on the full range of human moments: garbage days, lovely days, grief-stricken days, and even (especially) completely ordinary days. These heartfelt blessings are a chance to exhale when we feel everything from careworn to restless, devastated to bored. Let’s have a reminder that we don’t need to wait for perfect lives when we can bless the lives we actually have.","brand":"Convergent Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42827283693648,"sku":"9780593193709B","price":13.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593193709-l.jpg?v=1785909580"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/collections\/kate-bowler.oembed","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}