We all experience seasons where all we can do is scratch our heads and say, “WHAT EVEN HAPPENED?!”

Dr. Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health during 2020—our season of collective “WHAT EVEN HAPPENED!?” He is still picking up the pieces of heartbreak from how people responded to one another and to science at the time. Yet he hasn’t lost his faith in humanity.

In this conversation, Kate and Francis discuss:

• Why faith and science seem at odds (and why they shouldn’t be)

• The importance of doubt and asking questions

• What happens when institutions (or their leaders) let us down and you’ll hear quite the case on practicing interdependence.

• How we might all have enough foolishness to imagine we can be part of bridging the great divides we see.

If you liked this episode, you might also love:

• Angela Williams on the importance of community care

• Maggie Jackson on what staying open-minded offers us

• David Brooks on asking better questions

Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it possible for anyone to change—change their mind, change their theology, change their priorities? What does it mean to hope when we live in such uncertainty?

Richard B. Hays is a world-renowned scholar of the New Testament. He is also a dear friend and colleague of Kate Bowler. Richard and Kate were both unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer at the same time, which meant they spent many hours discussing the heart of what it means to hope. Their hard won wisdom adds such depth and heart to today’s episode.

In this conversation, Richard and Kate discuss:

• What it means to be hopeful
• A rich theological perspective of suffering in light of the resurrection
• How to pray when you are living in uncertainty
• Why it's never too late to change your mind as you grow older

This is a soulful conversation that embodies the humility it takes to change anything. Your mind. How your time is spent. Your certainties. We can’t wait to hear what you think.

If you liked this episode, you might also love:

• Will Willimon on vocation (especially as we age)
• Tom Long on learning to number our days
• Stanley Hauerwas on needing fewer explanations
• Jeff Chu on discovering grace for people who think unlike you

Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof understands how to hope—especially in the face of despair or disappointment. He has spent his life shining a light on global tragedies like the Tiananmen Square massacre or the genocide in Darfur. And yet, despite all the horrors he has born witness to, he maintains a sense of hard-won optimism. “Hope is a muscle,” he says, and one we can all learn to develop.

In this live conversation, Kate and Nicholas discuss:

• How to maintain hope in the year ahead
• Nicholas’ best argument as to why this is the best time to be alive
• His strategies to seeing pain and courage up close over and over again
• Why our small actions matter (even when it feels like a drop in the ocean)

If you liked this episode, you’ll love:

• Bryan Stevenson on justice in the face of unthinkable odds

• David Fajgenbaum on how hope pulls us forward

• Sarah Polley on why we should run toward what scares us

Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.