the incurable optimist

Kate Bowler grew up on the prairies of Canada, in an area settled by Mennonites, where she attended bible camp, and the local pastor preached that if you lived a peaceful, simple life you’d be rewarded with the love of God. Then that same pastor started rolling up to the altar on a shiny new motorbike and talking about how getting rich was okay, because it was a blessing. Kate was so baffled by this new scripture that it sent her on a lifelong mission to study why some people (mostly Americans) believe in the prosperity gospel, which is the belief that God grants health and wealth to those on the right path. Along the way, she married a Mennonite, had a little boy and became a professor of Christianity. Everything was going to plan until Kate was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Tell us about yourself.

I’m a child of academics, so I thought university was the most glamorous place in the whole wide world. All I ever wanted to do was be a professor. I was really on the academic superhighway. I went school, school, school, and then I started trying to publish my dissertation, which was a study of the history of the prosperity gospel. I noticed that Americans were especially comfortable with the idea that God really wanted to bless them tangibly. I was so curious about where that came from. I wanted to write a