Bowler's bookshelf includes a variety of genres, from adopted academic projects to casual prayer guides; all texts are available from most major retailers. '''
Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. ''' Kate Bowler's first text, derived from her doctoral dissertation, covers a decade of travel across Canada and the United States. In these years, Bowler visited megachurches, archives, and various other evangelical events and interviewed church leaders in pursuit of exploring the "prosperity gospel". This theological notion, unique to the
Charismatic Christian population, attributes worldly health and wealth to the will of God and commitment to religious practices. A Publishers Weekly review describes summarizes this history and ideological scaffolding as a "rich narrative [that] traces the entanglement of prosperity and the divine in New Thought thinkers, who believed in mind-power to transform heaven-sent blessings; the power of positive thinking in the postwar era, from Norman Vincent Peale to the televangelists of the 1980s; and the rise of the contemporary megachurch, which includes preachers like Joel Osteen, who argue that believers are created to excel". Though critics note that in
Blessed, Bowler "could expand her analysis of civil religion's influence on the prosperity gospel. The movement's expansion in the years of the Cold War and its emphasis on American exceptionalism beg for more discussion". '''''Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved
. New York: Random House, 2018. ' ''Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved'' was published in 2018. This memoir chronicles Bowler's internal dialogue following her diagnosis with stage IV colon cancer, particularly her meditations on her area of academic focus, the prosperity gospel, and the ways in which it manifests in her life. Kirkus Reviews describes this synthesis as "a touching tale of battling cancer set against the backdrop of the prosperity gospel". Bowler discussed this book and offered further reflections and recommendations for an audience in her TED Talk, given on July 2, 2019. Bowler's website also offers discussion questions related to the book for readers looking to apply writing to their own lives and conversations. '''''The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. ' Bowler's third full-length book observes women in American evangelist culture, specifically the wives of megachurch preachers. The text explores how these individuals "balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male dominated faiths", Published in 2020, this topic was also addressed in Bowler's
New York Times Op-Ed, titled "The Perilous Power of the Preacher's Wife". While the book was generally received positively, the Christian Scholar's Review notes, "If I could have asked Bowler for more, I would have been glad if she had pondered the extent to which some of this material reflects evangelical history more generally". '''
Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Harmony/Rodale/Convergent, 2022. ISBN 9780593193686''' Released in 2022, this text was co-authored with
Jessica Richie, the co-producer of Bowler's podcast and the executive director of the Everything Happens Project at Duke Divinity School. Both faculty at Duke Divinity School, these women created this reflection on finding beauty and truth in the chaotic moments of life. The text works as a counter to the "ruthless individualism and blind optimism" that its authors claim characterizes contemporary culture. Bowler spoke on this book in February 2022 on
Good Morning America. '''
The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. Convergent Books, 2023. ''' Richie and Bowler released this devotional on the heels of
Good Enough in 2023. Rather than long-form prose, this book is similarly split into smaller blessings/meditations designed to elevate gratitude in the smaller or less glamorous moments of life.
The Lives We Actually Have is formatted as a prayer text, with related guides available for lent and advent seasons. '''
Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!: Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens. Harmony/Rodale/Convergent, 2024. ISBN 9780593727676''' Composed in a season of chronic pain and cancer treatment, this book is a continuation of Bowler's recent writing of devotionals and smaller guides over inquiry-based research books. Each section offers a poem of sorts with an accompanying verse and action-oriented advice from Bowler. This publication also offers a lent guide. '''
Joyful, Anyway. Random House publishing Group, 2026. ISBN 9780593734193''' Set to release April 7, 2026,
Joyful, Anyway is Bowler's newest addition to her shelf. Bowler prefaces this book with gratitude for surviving her stage-four cancer diagnosis, claiming that her pursuit of joy after that fact inspired the idea for this text and its subject matter. The book is available for preorder from a variety of online retailers. == Academic and journalistic publications ==