Dean Powery on the Necessity of Joy
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Joy column
Title Text:
Joy column
Writing in the (Duke) Chronicle, Chapel Dean Luke Powery describes the place and importance of joy in our lives, drawing on African American musical traditions, the novelist Paule Marshall, and a research project from Yale University.
"The joy, of which I write, doesn’t deny sorrow, failure or doubt," he explains. "Light can rise out of darkness. Joy can occur amid sorrow."
He challenges his readers at the end of the essay: "Do you have any joy in you now? If not, why not?"
"The answer does not have to depend on vanquishing grief and sadness," he writes. "Joy is not even necessarily something we have to earn, but it is key to our flourishing."