Concerning the ongoing interpretation and reception of the documents promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, see The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II, edited by Catherine E. Clifford and Massimo Faggioli (2023). This massive 800-page book includes three useful indices: (1) "Index of Names" (pp. 755-766); (2) "Index of Subjects" (pp. 767-772); and (3) "Index of Vatican II Documents" (pp. 773-777).
For all practical purposes, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in the Roman Catholic Church and the papacies of Pope John-Paul II (1978-2005), Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), and Pope Francis (2013-) occurred during our contemporary secondary oral culture.
I have profiled the doctrinally conservative Pope Francis in my widely read OEN article "Pope Francis on Evil and Satan" (dated March 24, 2019):
Even though Pope Francis is undoubtedly conservative doctrinally, he has provoked the wrath of certain conservative American Catholics. The Italian philosopher and papal biographer Massimo Borghesi discusses them in his book Catholic Discordance: Neoconservatism vs. the Field Hospital Church of Pope Francis, translated by Barry Hudock (2021; orig. Italian ed., 2021).
I reviewed Borghesi's 2021 book in my OEN article "Massimo Borghesi's New Book Catholic Discordance" (dated January 5, 2022):
Now, I will boldly suggest here that the outspoken anti-Francis American Catholics tend to prefer their nostalgic and idealized view of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s as a closed system.
Somehow, perhaps in many ways, the doctrinally conservative Pope Francis has prompted them to feel that their nostalgic and idealized view of the church in the 1950s as a closed system is under siege.
Now, I will also boldly suggest here that Trump's most ardent MAGA supporters feel that their nostalgic and idealized view of postwar American culture in the 1950s as a closed system is under siege.
Of course, I hasten to add that I am here, in both cases, adding the specification "in the 1950s as a closed system".
Now, what Ong refers to as our contemporary secondary oral culture engendered by the communications media that accentuate sound appears to be here for the foreseeable future. If I am correct in suggesting that what Ong refers to as open systems thinking is fostered by our secondary oral culture, then those conservative Americans who view the 1950s nostalgically are going to continue to feel under siege for the foreseeable future.
My sobering analysis suggests that many of our fellow Americans will continue to feel under threat for the foreseeable future as long as they cling to their nostalgic views of the 1950s - which means that our fellow Americans who feel so threatened will continue to pose a threat of authoritarianism spring to full bloom in America in the foreseeable future.
Next, I want to turn to Ong's thesis about our Western cultural history. In Ong's "Preface" to his 1977 book Interfaces of the Word: Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness and Culture (pp. 9-13), he says the following in the first sentence: "The present volume carries forward work in two earlier volumes by the same author, The Presence of the Word (1967) and Rhetoric Romance, and Technology (1971)." He then discusses these two earlier volumes.
Then Ong says, "The thesis of these two earlier works is sweeping, but it is not reductionist, as reviewers and commentators, so far as I know, have all generously recognized: the works do not maintain that the evolution from primary orality through writing and print to an electronic culture, which produces secondary orality, causes or explain everything in human culture and consciousness. Rather, the thesis is relationist: major developments, and very likely even all major developments, in culture and consciousness are related, often in unexpected intimacy, to the evolution of the word from primary orality to its present state. But the relationships are varied and complex, with cause and effect often difficult to distinguish" (pp. 9-10).
Thus, Ong himself claims (1) that his thesis is "sweeping" but (2) that the shifts do not "cause or explain everything in human culture and consciousness" and (3) that the shifts are related to "major developments, and very likely even all major developments, in culture and consciousness".
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
