Dean Powery in Duke Magazine on the 'Living Stones' of Duke Chapel
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Duke Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery holding a photo of architect Julian Abele
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Duke Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery holding a photo of architect Julian Abele
Duke Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery holds a photo of architect Julian Abele
Writing for the Centennial issue of Duke Magazine, Duke Chapel Dean Luke Powery sketches the Chapel’s history as “a providential combination of people and stones, or ‘living stones.’” He cites examples of people who have given shape to the “great towering church” that James B. Duke envisioned from Duke’s first president William Few to the building's chief designer Julian Abele to the writer Maya Angelou who spoke at convocation so many years to J. Samuel Hammond who played the Chapel carillon for more than fifty years.
“Those of us who celebrate, sing, pray, preach and make music at the chapel these days are stewards of its stones as well as its living traditions,” Dean Powery writes. “It has a rich past, but also a vibrant present and hopeful future, focused as much on what goes on inside its walls as its outward impact on the rest of campus, the Durham community, and beyond.”
“May the future of Duke Chapel be a campus community known as much for the quiet gestures of kindness by its people as for the majestic sweep of its stones,” he concludes. “Built with living stones, may it be a place with deep roots of faith for the flourishing of all human beings in hope and love.”