Uploaded November 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Duke Divinity Professor Kate Bowler, author of the bestselling Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I’ve Loved, speaks with colleague and oncologist Dr. Raymond Barfield about her struggle to understand the personal and spiritual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character after she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35. The conversation took place at Practice and Presence 2018, the annual conference of the Duke Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative.
Duke Divinity Professor Kate Bowler, author of the bestselling Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I’ve Loved, speaks with colleague and oncologist Dr. Raymond Barfield about her struggle to understand the personal and spiritual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character after she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at age 35. The conversation took place at Practice and Presence 2018, the annual conference of the Duke Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative.










