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Thomas James Farrell is professor emeritus of writing studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). He started teaching at UMD in Fall 1987, and he retired from UMD at the end of May 2009. He was born in 1944. He holds three degrees from Saint Louis University (SLU): B.A. in English, 1966; M.A.(T) in English 1968; Ph.D.in higher education, 1974. On May 16, 1969, the editors of the SLU student newspaper named him Man of the Year, an honor customarily conferred on an administrator or a faculty member, not on a graduate student -- nor on a woman up to that time. He is the proud author of the book WALTER ONG'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO CULTURAL STUDIES: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE WORD AND I-THOU COMMUNICATION (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2000; 2nd ed. 2009, forthcoming). The first edition won the 2001 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology conferred by the Media Ecology Association. For further information about his education and his publications, see his UMD homepage: Click here to visit Dr. Farrell's homepage. On September 10 and 22, 2009, he discussed Walter Ong's work on the blog radio talk show "Ethics Talk" that is hosted by Hope May in philosophy at Central Michigan University. Each hour-long show has been archived and is available for people who missed the live broadcast to listen to. Here are the website addresses for the two archived shows:
SHARE Friday, March 15, 2024 Pope Francis on His Life and Times (REVIEW ESSAY)
In Pope Francis' new 2024 book Life: My Story Through History, with the Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, translated from the Italian by Aubrey Botsford (HarperOne/ HarperCollins), the first Jesuit pope discusses his life and times in what the American Jesuit literary scholar Walter J. Ong referred to as a "talked book." I highlight here what the pope says about corruption, because Trump exemplifies such corruption.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, February 29, 2024 Thomas J. Farrell on Drafting His Own Obituary
This admittedly short article rounds off two of my earlier OEN articles: (1) "Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J." (dated November 7, 2023); and (2) "Thomas J. Farrell on Thomas J. Farrell" (dated November 17, 2023). The present article provides certain further information that was not included in either of those two previous OEN articles.
SHARE Sunday, February 18, 2024 John Dear on the Questions of Jesus (REVIEW ESSAY)
In my recent OEN article "John Dear on the Synoptic Gospels and Bottom-UP Nonviolence" (dated January 31, 2024), I commented on the prolific American diocesan priest and peace activist Father John Dear's new 2024 magnum opus commentary The Gospel of Peace (Orbis Books). I now want to comment of his thought-provoking earlier book of meditations titled The Questions of Jesus (Image Books/ Doubleday/ Random House, 2004)
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 31, 2024 John Dear on the Synoptic Gospels and Bottom-Up Nonviolence (REVIEW ESSAY)
If you are not interested in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), then you should not be interested in the prolific activist Father John Dear's new 2024 book The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence (Orbis Books). But if you are interested in bottom-up imagery, then you should be interested in the author's claim that Jesus campaigned for bottom-up nonviolence.
SHARE Sunday, January 14, 2024 Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., and Walter J. Ong, S.J., on Male Agonism (REVIEW ESSAY)
In this wide-ranging 6,000-word review essay, I discuss the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian Walter J. Ong's studies of male agonism and the conservative American political philosopher Harvey C. Mansfield's views.
SHARE Monday, January 8, 2024 David Brooks on "What Biden Needs to Tell Us" (REVIEW ESSAY)
The self-described conservative columnist David Brooks published "What Biden Needs to Tell Us" in the New York Times (dated January 4, 2024). I highlight it here. I also highlight the American Jesuit cultural historian Walter J. Ong's subtle 1962 title essay "The Barbarian Within: Outsiders Inside Society Today" in his 1962 book The Barbarian Within: And Other Fugitive Essays and Studies (Macmillan, pp. 260-285).
SHARE Wednesday, December 20, 2023 Mary Harrington on Feminism, Legalized Abortion, and the Pill (REVIEW ESSAY)
The Oxford-educated conservative British author Mary Harrington (born in 1979) has published the accessible new 2023 book Feminism Against Progress (Regnery). In it, she discusses her life, feminism, legalized abortion, the Pill, and much else in contemporary popular culture.
SHARE Monday, November 27, 2023 David Brooks' Accessible New 2023 Book (REVIEW ESSAY)
Pope Francis (born in 1936), the first Jesuit pope, has urged people, not just practicing Catholics, to engage in encounter and dialogue. Those people who respond positively to his urging to engage in encounter and dialogue might find David Brooks' accessible new 2023 book How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (Random House) informative and instructive and encouraging.
SHARE Friday, November 17, 2023 Thomas J. Farrell on Thomas J. Farrell (REVIEW ESSAY)
My 600th OEN article was titled "Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J." (dated November 7, 2023). Upon further reflection after I published it, I decided that a follow-up article about my life and professional publications is warranted. In short, who is the author of those 600 OEN articles? And where am I coming from?
SHARE Tuesday, November 7, 2023 Thomas J. Farrell on Walter J. Ong, S.J. (REVIEW ESSAY)
For my 600th OEN article, I am writing to call your attention to my three articles and six reviews in the new issue of the online journal New Explorations. In my nine selections, I highlight the work of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955).
SHARE Saturday, October 28, 2023 Adam Nicolson on Life Lessons from the Early Greeks (REVIEW ESSAY)
The prolific English author Adam Nicolson (born in 1957) writes about early Greek philosophical thought in his new 2023 book How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). But I situate Nicolson's thought in the broader conceptual framework of the thought of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong.
SHARE Sunday, October 22, 2023 Sister Tracey Horan on Pope Francis (REVIEW ESSAY)
The synod on synodality is underway at the Vatican. Pope Francis is the prime mover behind the process of synodality today. Sister Tracey Horan reflects on Pope Francis and snyodality in her provocative article "Can the church change? It's all about the collective." As she operationally defines and explains what she means by the collective, it resembles what Rob Kall means by bottom-up change, versus top-down change.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 6, 2023 Pope Francis on the Climate Crisis (REVIEW ESSAY)
In 2015, Pope Francis (born in 1936; elected pope in 2013) emerged as a towering public intellectual on the world stage with his widely read eco-encyclical titled Laudato Si' (meaning "Praise Be to You"). On October 4, 2023, the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi (c.1181-1226), Pope Francis renewed his concerns about the climate crisis in his terse new apostolic exhortation titled Laudate Deum ("Praise God").
SHARE Sunday, September 24, 2023 Jeff Jarvis on the Age of Print and the Age of the Internet (REVIEW ESSAY)
The American journalist Jeff Jarvis (born in 1954) has published the accessible new 2023 book The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet (Bloomsbury Academic). I discuss his book in connection with the work of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955).
SHARE Friday, September 22, 2023 Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., on Ecophobia (REVIEW ESSAY)
Today I sing of Father Daniel P. Horan's superb column titled "Considering the spiritual roots of ecophobia amid climate change" (dated September 21, 2023) at the website of the National Catholic Reporter.
SHARE Wednesday, September 20, 2023 Walter J. Ong versus Pope Francis (REVIEW ESSAY)
In recently published remarks, Pope Francis characterizes conservative anti-Francis American Catholics as being backward-looking -- not forward-looking as he sees himself. But he himself is not sufficiently backward-looking regarding the Doctrine of Discovery. The American Jesuit scholar Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) suggests that we need to be both backward-looking and forward-looking.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, September 17, 2023 The Roman Catholic Church as a Cultural Empire (REVIEW ESSAY)
As a follow up to my recent OEN article "Robert P. Jones on the Doctrine of Discovery" (dated September 15, 2023), I now want to discuss further his new 2023 book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future (Simon & Schuster) -- and certain other related works concerning the Roman Catholic Church.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, September 15, 2023 Robert P. Jones on the Doctrine of Discovery (REVIEW ESSAY)
In his new 2023 book The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future (Simon & Schuster), the American religion scholar Robert P. Jones successfully integrates his enlightening discussion of the Doctrine of Discovery throughout his text. Pope Francis could learn a lot about the Doctrine of Discovery from Jones' new 2023 book. I did.
SHARE Sunday, September 10, 2023 Walter J. Ong on Historical and Other Humanistic Studies (REVIEW ESSAY)
The American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian and pioneering media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) died in 2003. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of his death, I highlight his life and times here. Then I highlight his account of historical and other humanistic studies.