Kate Bowler joins Gretchen Case to discuss authenticity in academic, spiritual, and medical life; the limits of toxic positivity; and how joy can be both a surprise and a discipline. Reflecting on her own experience, Bowler examines what it means to seek truth and integrity within imperfect systems and bodies.
Kate Bowler is Associate Professor of American Religious History at Duke Divinity School. Her books include:

• Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!: Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs & In-Betweens
• Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved
• No Cure for Being Human: (And Other Truths I Need to Hear)
• Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel
• The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities

Gretchen Case is Director of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities and Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Utah.

(Episode album artwork: Edward Hopper, Soir Bleu, 1914)

Episode edited by Ethan Rauschkolb. Named after our seminar room, The Virtual Jewel Box hosts conversations at the Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Views expressed on The Virtual Jewel Box do not represent the official views of the Center or University.