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Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

What If Happiness Isn’t What You Think It Is? with Patrik Hagman

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Kate Bowler

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness

4.85.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does it mean to live well when danger, loss, and grief are never far away? Kate Bowler talks with theologian, pastor, and writer Patrik Hagman, whose life has been shaped by profound loss—including the death of his father, his young son, and later his wife. Raised in Finland and now living in Sweden, Patrik brings a distinctly Nordic perspective on happiness—not as constant joy or self-optimization, but as contentment, trust, and gratitude that survives close proximity to fragility. This is a conversation about living with fewer explanations and more honesty. About faith that refuses easy answers. About the strange clarity that comes when life gets very small and very bright at the same time. And about learning to be less surprised by tragedy—and more surprised by goodness. If you’re trying to hold grief and gratitude at once, this episode is for you. SHOW NOTES Babettes Kulturhus (Linköping, Sweden) – community space for conversation, fika, and culture Stanley Hauerwas – theologian often referenced in the conversation Patrik Hagman – theologian, pastor, writer, and translator of Stanley Hauerwas’s work Pre-order Joyful Anyway by Kate Bowler Tour dates & tickets: katebowler.com/joyfulanyway Watch the live conversation on YouTube Join Kate Bowler on Substack for the season of Lent: katebowler.substack.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey there, it's Julia Louis Dreyfus. I'm back with a new season of Wiser Than Me,

0:08.6

the show where I sit down with remarkable older women and soak up their stories, their humor,

0:15.8

and their hard-earned wisdom. Every conversation leaves me a little smarter and definitely more inspired. And yes,

0:23.6

I'm still calling my 91-year-old mom, Judy, to get her take on it all. Wiser than me from

0:30.8

Lemonade of Media is out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:39.8

It's morning in New York.

0:42.8

Oh, God.

0:46.2

Hey, everybody.

0:47.3

I'm Mandy Patinkin.

0:48.6

And I'm Catherine Grady.

0:49.8

And we have a new podcast.

0:51.7

It's called Don't Listen to Us.

0:54.1

Many of you've asked for our advice.

0:56.1

Tell me, what is wrong with you people? Don't listen to us. Our Take It or Leave a Advice show

1:01.8

every Wednesday out now, a Lemonada Media Original.

1:10.0

I'm Kate Bowler, and this is Everything Happens.

1:16.9

So today I want to introduce you to someone really special.

1:23.8

I think you're just going to love him.

1:25.4

His name is Patrick Hodman.

1:29.7

So he's Finnish and he lives and teaches in Sweden. And that's just where I want to start is with place because it matters so

1:37.3

much in this conversation. So Finland, Patrick's home country, is a very unusual and interesting place. It's a Scandinavian country. It shares

1:48.0

an enormous, massive border with Russia, which is to say that it is like a very sophisticated,

...

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