Duke Chapel Conversations

Dr. Bryant is president of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a tenured professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her clinical and research interests center on interpersonal trauma and the societal trauma of oppression. She has raised public awareness regarding mental health by extending the reach of psychology beyond the academy and private therapy office through community programming, organizational consultation, popular books, and media engagement. Duke Chapel's annual Few Lecture takes its name from Duke's first president who articulated a vision of education promoting the courage to seek the truth and the conviction to live it. The series is funded by the William Preston Few Endowment for Duke Chapel, which was established in 1986 by Kendrick S. Few '39 as a memorial to his father, William Preston Few, the first president of Duke University. A triple-graduate of Duke University, Dr. Bryant completed a doctorate in clinical psychology and also earned a master of arts and bachelor of arts at Duke. She is host of Homecoming, a mental health podcast, and director of the mental health ministry at First AME Church in South Los Angeles. She is author of the book Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole Authentic Self and co-author of The Antiracism Handbook: Practical Tools to Shift Your Mindset & Uproot Racism in Your Life and Community. She is editor or co-editor of the APA books Womanist and Mujerista Psychologies: Voices of Fire, Acts of Courage and Multicultural Feminist Therapy: Helping Adolescent Girls of Color to Thrive.

TRANSCRIPT >> Dr. Smith: Well, good evening. My name is Patrick T. Smith. I direct the bioethics at the bioethics for the history of medicine. I want to take this moment to welcome you to our webinar this evening. I am so glad that you're able to join always for our discussion of Dean Luke Powery's new book, "Becoming Human: The Holy Spirit and the Rhetoric of Race." For our panel discussion, Dean Powery at the Duke Divinity School will be joined by two leading scholars in the fields that are important to the book. the Reverend Dr. Willie Jennings is from the Yale University Divinity School and Dr. Charmaine royal, professor of African studies, biology, global health, and family medicine and community health at Duke University. I have the privilege and pleasure as serving for the moderator for this session. Dean Powery sees race as essential in valuing some bodies over others that are shaped by the biblical Pentecost that sees the diversity of human bodies as one of the gifts of the holy spirit. Published by Westminster John Knox Press and the winner of the 2023 book of the year award from the academy of parish implementationy, the box gets its title from the 1968 eulogy by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When he says, Dr. King was killed in one sense, because humankind is not quite human yet, Dr. Thurman said. May he live, because all of us in America are closer to becoming human than ever before. As Dr. Powery says many times in his book, the turn to the spirit is the turn to becoming much more human. Now, we will begin with some conversation with Dr. Powery and then invite the panelists into the discussion. We will have some time at the end to take questions for those of you who are in attendance, so feel free to submit your questions at any time during our conversation in the question and answer box that you can see at the bottom of your screen. We will get to as many as we can. I will do my best in that regard. So, let's get to it. I want to welcome each of you here. So glad to see you here in this space. Dean powier, first powery, congratulations on the book and your recent award. >> Dean Powery: Thanks so much, Dr. Smith. It is a joy for me to be in this conversation with dear friends and colleagues and these esteemed colleagues. >> Dr. Smith: That's great. Why don't you begin by telling us why you wrote this book. >> Dean Powery: All right, I will make it short. [LAUGHTER] You quoted Howard Thurman, because that is where I was going to begin. In his memorium for Dr. King, we are not quite human yet. He does that in the wake of the assassination of Dr. King. We see the ongoing violence against blackness, war, hatred, tension, struggle, it continues. Inside the church and outside of the church, especially as it relates to what I call racialization, racism. And this concept of race. So, what I tried to do is really, we have one of the key thinkers in the theology of race, Dr. Jennings on this call, what I tried to do is add a contribution, thinking about the work of the spirit in racialization in the history of the church and the world. I would say there would be size of hope underneath the words of the book. One of the hopes is that we would, as I draw on Pentecost as a metaphor that we would find a new tongue. We would find a new language, a new way of engaging one another, but talking about one another, and talking about this idea, this social construct of race. And so, the prayer in many ways undergirding this book is we would discover and become more fully human with each other, and ultimately that can only happen through the work of the spirit. It is an invocation for the spirit to come and help us in this endeavor, and in this challenge, ongoing challenge. >> Dr. Smith: Yeah, it was interesting as you mentioned throughout the book, the dynamic between the spirit's work in transcending some of these challenges that we're facing and bringing folks together, but it is also d

Three deans of Duke University Chapel—one current and two former—hold a public conversation about the role of preaching in public discourse. Fewer people are coming to church to hear sermons and yet religious language and elements of the sermonic style continue to be present in various types of public speech. In this context, are preachers being heard and heeded? What is the place of the pulpit in the public square? And, how are sermons changing? Three prolific preachers, with experience on two continents, address those questions and others in a Duke Chapel Bridge Panel conversation moderated by Frank Stasio, the host of WUNC Radio's The State of Things. The panelists are: The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, dean of Duke Chapel since 2012 and an associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School The Rev. Dr. Samuel Wells, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields and former dean of Duke Chapel from 2005 to 2012 Bishop William Willimon, professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School and former dean of Duke Chapel from 1984 to 2004

This Bridge Panel public conversation highlights the stories of justice-involved individuals and the impact of mass incarceration in the local community as well as ways faith communities and others are coming together to seek a more just society. The panelists are: Dr. Douglas Campbell, Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School; Drew Doll, Reentry Coordinator for the Religious Coalition of a Nonviolent Durham; and the Hon. Shamieka L. Rhinehart, Durham District Court Judge. Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery moderates the panel. The Chapel's Bridge Panel series more broadly seeks to connect people from disparate walks of life in order to discover shared pathways toward the beloved community of God.

Dean of Duke University Chapel Sam Wells and Dean of Duke Divinity School Greg Jones hold a dialogue on October 30, 2008.

Duke University Chapel hosts a public conversation with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and the Rev. William J. Barber II, "The Enduring Challenge of a Moral Economy: 50 Years After Dr. King Challenged Racism, Poverty, and Militarism." The event was to be part of Duke's 2018 Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration and Duke Chapel's Bridge Panel series, which seeks to connect people from disparate walks of life to discover shared pathways toward the community of God. "In joining with others to begin organizing the Poor People's Campaign 50 years ago, Dr. King was working out of a Christian conviction that racial equity, economic justice and peace among nations were interrelated issues -- and all matters of faith," said Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery, who moderated the talk held on April 20, 2018. "Through this public conversation, we have an opportunity to bring together the insights of a preacher and a politician on the present-day work toward a just, moral economy." Barber is a national co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, an initiative that aims to address issues of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation's morality. He is also the president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit organization that seeks to build a moral agenda. An alumnus of Duke Divinity School, Barber is the pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Sanders is an Independent senator from Vermont. His 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination for president focused on policy issues that included universal health care, free tuition at public universities and a $15-per-hour minimum wage. He was first elected to public office in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and has since served 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and 11 years in the U.S. Senate. In addition to his role as dean of Duke Chapel, Powery is an associate professor of homiletics at Duke Divinity School. His most recent book is "Rise Up, Shepherd!: Advent Reflections on the Spirituals." Ordained to the Ministry by the Progressive National Baptist Convention, he was inducted in 2014 into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College for his ethical and spiritual leadership in the academy, church, and broader society. Co-sponsors of the event include Duke Divinity School and Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and Office for Institutional Equity.

What would you do if you knew you had a year to live? A month? A day? How would you spend your time? Who would you spend it with? What would you do? Please join us as we explore how these questions -- and the way that each of us answers them -- illuminate the diversity in our community. Presented by the Duke Center for Palliative Care, in partnership with Duke Chapel's Bridge Panels Series, and the Duke University School of Nursing. The panelists are: Linda Jacob, patient family member; Kimberly Johnson, MD, associate professor of medicine, Division of Geriatrics; Pastor Ronald Godbee, River Church in Durham; Anthony Galanos, MD, professor of medicine, Duke Palliative Care; Elizabeth Zechinati, NP, nurse practitioner, Duke Palliative Care. The conversation, held on February 23, 2018, was moderated by David Casarett, MD, director of the Duke Center for Palliative Care

A public discussion on March 30, 2017 moderated by the Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel with the Rev. Dr. William Turner, Jr., James T. and Alice Mead Cleland Professor of the Practice of Preaching at Duke Divinity School; Bishop William Willimon, bishop in the United Methodist Church, former dean of Duke Chapel, and professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School; and readings from the Duke Chapel Recordings Archive.

In a world worried about terror -- acts of violence with political ends -- how is it possible to live in peace? A Duke Chapel "Bridge Panel" conversation takes up the question of what spiritual, political, and communal resources are available to seek peace in an age of fear. The title of the public discussion held on February 24, 2017 comes from a sermon preached in December 2016 by Chapel Dean Luke A. Powery. In it, Dean Powery drew upon the Apostle Paul, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Charles Wesley, and others to describe how "the peace of God is standing guard." Powery moderates the conversation. The panelists are: Professor Valerie Cooper, associate professor of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School, Professor Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law Professor Omid Safi, director of Duke's Islamic Studies Center and a professor of Asian and Middle Studies.

Dr. Diya Abdo believes private colleges and universities can play a pivotal role in housing and resettling refugees. That is why Dr. Abdo, chair of the English and Creative Writing Department at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, began "Every Campus a Refuge," an initiative which calls on colleges and universities around the world to assist in resettlement by hosting one refugee family on campus. Her inspiration for the effort comes from a combination of sources: her own personal story, the Pope's call on every church parish to host one refugee family, Guilford College's Quaker tradition, and the Arab-Islamic word for campus which means "sanctuary." Dr. Abdo shares her experiences on February 7, 2017 in helping people #FindSanctuary.

A Bridge Panel Conversation

Dean of Duke University Chapel Sam Wells and Pratt School of Engineering Dean Tom Katsouleas hold a dialogue on April 27, 2010.