Yesterday the New York Times published, “Death, the Prosperity Gospel and Me,” a short essay by Kate Bowler, a professor of church history at Duke Divinity School. Bowler writes on coming to terms with her recent diagnosis with cancer (as a 35 year old), and how this experience squares with her understanding of the meaning of a “blessed life.” It’s a moving piece. It also sketches a more thoughtful alternative to accounts of suffering and grief than are typically offered by advocates of various prosperity gospels.

For more from Bowler, an expert on the history of prosperity gospel movements, consider her book Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford UnivPr, 2013).