Sounds of Faith

This summer, Duke Chapel Dean Luke Powery was invited to be a guest preacher at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church—the home church of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dean Powery's sermon on “The Hidden Cost of Healing” drew affirmation and exclamation from the congregation. It also fell into a long preaching tradition at Ebenezer—and a longstanding relationship between that church and Duke Chapel. In this episode of "Sounds of Faith," Dean Powery reflects on the message he delivered at Ebenezer Baptist and also analyzes sermons preached at Duke Chapel by Ebenezer Baptist pastors, including Martin Luther King, Sr.

The possibilities and dangers of artificial intelligence are prompting soul-searching in many corners of society, including the church. Most visibly, over the summer, Pope Leo XIV released his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical. One person who has thought deeply about how AI can be understood in light of the Christian faith is Dr. Reinhard Huetter, a visiting professor of Catholic theology at Duke Divinity School. In 2021, he was appointed by the late Pope Francis to the International Theological Commission, which advises the church’s leadership on challenging issues of the day. Early this year, that Commission published the English version of its wide-ranging treatise "Quo vadis, humanitas?" on the nature of humanity in the face of technological transformation. In this episode of "Sounds of Faith," Dr. Huetter discusses how the church centers God and humanity in its discernment about the serious challenges of AI.

A concert this semester at Duke Chapel explored “700 Years of a Biblical Love Song.” The performance was the culmination of a yearlong exploration of musical settings of the love poetry in the Bible’s “Song of Songs” (or “Song of Solomon”). In this episode, we hear musical highlights from the concert and learn from Dr. Philip Cave, the Chapel's conductor-in-residence, about the pieces' passion, composition, history, and inspiration.

For forty-four years, Steve Hinkle has presented the Christian gospel at Duke and other campuses as a leader in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship campus ministry. Along the way, he has served as a staff member for the Christian Medical and Dental Association and as interim Religious Life director for Duke Chapel—and also gave up driving his car for a year. This summer, he will retire with decades of wisdom and a network of hundreds of former students he has pastored and encouraged. In this episode, we sit down with Steve to learn lessons from his ministry and find out what he hopes to pass on.

For forty-four years, Steve Hinkle has presented the Christian gospel at Duke and other campuses as a leader in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship campus ministry. Along the way, he has served as a staff member for the Christian Medical and Dental Association and as interim Religious Life director for Duke Chapel—and also gave up driving his car for a year. This summer, he will retire with decades of wisdom and a network of hundreds of former students he has pastored and encouraged. In this episode, we sit down with Steve to learn lessons from his ministry and find out what he hopes to pass on.

Each week, Duke Chapel Organ Scholar David Lim plays the Chapel’s four organs dozens of times for services, weddings, rehearsals, demonstrations, and concerts. He is honing his skills as a church musician—from arranging music to administration to leading rehearsals—before he heads on to a job this summer as a parish music director. In this episode, we talk with Dr. David Lim, and hear him play, to learn how he is developing as a musician, leader, and educator—and find out why he stuck a pencil in an organ keyboard!

“What I love about poetry is … how the words take you to wordlessness." That was one of the many insights former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo offered during her appearance at Duke Chapel's 2026 Pluralism Lecture. The event, "Poetry and Spirituality," began with a poetry reading by Harjo, and then she sat down for an extended conversation with Duke Chapel Dean Luke Powery. The discussion, presented in this episode of "Sounds of Faith," covered the role of poetry in enduring hardships, awaking to spiritual realities, living in harmony with other people and the natural world—and much more.

College is a place for studying, forming friendships, cheering for sports teams—and for some students it’s also a time of exploration into meaning, identity, and belief. That is where “Say the Thing” comes in. It is an initiative from Duke Chapel and Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics to creatively engage students—about 40% of whom don’t identify with a traditional religion—with life's enduring questions. In this episode, we hear from the head of Say the Thing, the Chapel's Rev. Leah Torrey—along with two students in the program—about how they use art, poetry, and great writers to help students better understand themselves and their place in the world.

For about sixty years, the United in Praise student group has performed gospel and praise music in services, concerts, and ceremonies on campus and in the Durham community. The group traces its roots to the mid-Sixties when Black students joined with a local church to form the Modern Black Mass Choir. In the decades since, the group has adopted its current name and become recognized as an official student group but they have kept to their mission of giving glory to God with their music. In this episode, student leaders from United in Praise, along with the group's staff adviser, talk about how their music witnesses to their faith, forms community, and passes on a valuable legacy.

As part of Duke University, Duke Chapel is located in Durham, North Carolina. It’s a home city that has much to celebrate as a growing community with a vibrant cultural scene as well as a reputation for technological innovation. But, like most cities, Durham wrestles with homelessness, economic inequality, a history of racial injustice, mental health care, and other challenges. Duke Chapel seeks to do its part in addressing these issues by partnering with nonprofits—many of them faith-based—who work for the welfare of Durham. In this episode, we speak with leaders from three of those community partners—DurhamCares, Durham Congregations in Action, and Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham—about faith-based community service. The guests are:

* The Rev. Reynolds Chapman, executive director of DurhamCares

* The Rev. Breana van Velzen, executive director of Durham Congregations in Action

* The Rev. Ben Haas, director of the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham