May 28, 2021
Angela Gorrell’s work focuses on all things connected with joy—what it is, how it differs from happiness, and how it can exist alongside sorrow. In this episode, Angela talks with Sushama Austin-Connor about her research on joy and her book The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found. They consider how we can study joy with a theological lens, how our emotions are always teaching us something, and how joy is a realization of relatedness and connection.
The Distillery is a podcast that explores the essential ingredients of book and research projects with experts in their field of study. Learn what motivates their work and why it matters for Christian theology and ministry.
Dr. Angela Williams Gorrell is an ordained pastor and assistant professor of practical theology at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Prior to joining the faculty at Baylor, she was an Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, working on the Theology of Joy and the Good Life Project, and a lecturer in Divinity and Humanities at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She received both her PhD in Practical Theology and MDiv at Fuller Theological Seminary, and her BA in Youth Ministry at Azusa Pacific University. She is the author of a new book, The Gravity of Joy: A Story of Being Lost and Found, which shares findings of the joy project while addressing America’s opioid and suicide crises.
“At Princeton, we had precept groups—we’d engage text and debate. That gave me confidence to have those conversations anywhere.”