Music and Joy

Daniel K. L. Chua is the Chair Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kong. His books include Beethoven and Freedom and Alien Listening: Voyager’s Golden Record and Music from Earth.

“Running throughout [Chua’s] book is a note of playfulness that makes for lively reading even when things turn deeply philosophical.”—John Check, Wall Street Journal, “Holiday Gift Books, Music”2025 AAR Religion and the Arts finalist, sponsored by The American Academy of ReligionWinner of the 2025 Public-Facing Scholarship Award, sponsored by the Society of Music Theory“With typical gusto, elan, and sheer boldness, Daniel K. L. Chua has given us another volume that will expand the imagination and make us all the more thankful for the gift that is music. It will be impossible to hear any music in quite the same way again.”—Jeremy Begbie, Duke University“Engrossing and profound, this book recrafts the way we tend to think about music and joy—and about music as joy. Daniel K. L. Chua argues that they are not a mere pleasant relief from life. They are—or should be—integral to the way of life.”—Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture“An extraordinary book that takes us on a global journey of music, from antiquity to the present, asking at each stop how we can rethink our lives and rethink our world. A deeply inspiring work.”—Michael Puett, Harvard University“With patient pen and sensitive ear, Daniel K. L. Chua offers new answers to a perennial question: What is music good for? Music, Chua claims, is for joy. Not just any joy. Rescued from simplicity, Chua’s joy is a nuanced name for a range of human intensities—tragic and triumphant. You will enjoy this book!”—Braxton D. Shelley, author of Healing for the Soul: Richard Smallwood, the Vamp, and the Gospel Imagination