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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 Each hour-long show has been archived and is available for people who missed the live broadcast to listen to.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:
Click here to listen the Technologizing of the Word Interview
Click here to listen the Ramus, Method & The Decay of Dialogue Interview
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Wednesday, May 16, 2018R. Marie Griffith Surveys a Century of Moral Combat Involving Christians (REVIEW ESSAY) At times, it is a good practice to step back from the latest controversies in the news and consider the larger picture. In her new book Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics (Basic Books, 2017), R. Marie Griffith surveys a century or so of certain sex-related controversies in American culture and politics. Her book is well-researched and well-written.
Thursday, April 26, 2018Walter Ong, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, and Jonah Goldberg's New Book In the new book Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy (Crown Forum, 2018), the conservative polemicist Jonah Goldberg of the American Enterprise Institute aims to reinvigorate conservatives in time for the 2018 mid-term elections. I do not disagree with everything he says, but I prefer Walter J. Ong's account of our cultural history.
Monday, April 9, 2018Pope Francis Reminds Catholics of the Call to Holiness Pope Francis has issued an apostolic exhortation reminding practicing Catholics that they are called to holiness. Because I am not a practicing Catholic, I would be delighted to see practicing Catholics respond positively to the call to holiness. But I suspect that certain American Catholics will criticize the pope's reminder of the call to holiness. As to non-Catholic Americans, we'll have to wait and see how they respond.
Thursday, April 5, 2018Michael Massing's Book about Erasmus and Luther (REVIEW ESSAY) In a dual biography of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) and Martin Luther (1483-1546), the American journalist Michael Massing, a Jew, captures the excitement of their lives and times. The brilliant and talented American philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein has published a perceptive review of massing's book that I also want to discuss in connection with Walter J. Ong's thought.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018No More Catholic U.S. Presidents Likely? No U.S. Pope Likely? (BOOK REVIEW) In the book In Rome We Trust: The Rise of Catholics in American Political Life (Stanford University Press, 2017), Manlio Graziano argues that no more Catholic U.S. presidents are likely. In addition, he argues that no U.S. pope is likely. Both of these arguments emerge from his carefully contextualized study of Catholics in American cultural history, and from his deep knowledge of popes and papal documents.
Monday, March 5, 2018Steven Pinker Is Not a Deep Thinker (REVIEW ESSAY) The Canadian Steven Pinker in psychology at Harvard University has published a polemical new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. It is a 550-page follow up to his 800-page 2011 book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. But Pinker is not a deep thinker compared to the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) and the American Jesuit Walter J. Ong (1912-2003).
Wednesday, February 28, 2018The Pope's Service to American Liberals and Progressives (REVIEW ESSAY) Pope Francis has heard the cry of the poor. In the spirit of the ancient Hebrew prophet Amos, the pope has pointedly criticized economic inequality. American liberals and progressives engaged in fighting the good fight against economic libertarians such as the Koch brothers can borrow from the pope's well-developed thought. His thought is succinctly sketched in the new book A Pope Francis Lexicon (Liturgical Press, 2018).
Sunday, February 18, 2018Pope Francis and Economic Inequality (REVIEW ESSAY) No doubt Pope Francis from Argentina has heard the cry of the poor. He has no serious rival on the world stage when it comes to criticizing economic inequality. In the new book Pope Francis and the Theology of the People, translated by Phillip Berryman (Orbis Books, 2017), the lay theologian Rafael Luciani of Caracas, Venezuela, contextualizes Pope Francis' thought in the Argentine strand of Latin American liberation theology.
Saturday, February 10, 2018Walter J. Ong as Revolutionary Hero-Thinker After I published my OEN review essay about Jordan B. Peterson's accessible new book, I decided to take a look at his first book (1999). In this densely packed book, he uses a Jungian conceptual framework of thought. I was most fascinated with his account of the revolutionary hero. I consider the American Jesuit polymath Walter J. Ong to have been a revolutionary hero-thinker. (There are other kinds of revolutionary heroes.)
Saturday, January 27, 2018Peterson's Account of Evolutionary Psychology Is Brilliant (REVIEW ESSAY) The University of Toronto psychology professor and practicing psychotherapist Jordan B. Peterson has published an accessible new book titled 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2018). His account of evolutionary psychology in it is brilliant.
Monday, January 15, 2018The Great Shift and the Hebrew Bible (REVIEW ESSAY) The prolific biblical scholar James L. Kugel tries his hand in describing the great shift in our Western cultural history in his latest book The Great Shift: Encountering God in Biblical Times (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). However, he does not happen to advert explicitly to the American Jesuit polymath Walter J. Ong's multi-dimensional description of the great shift.
Saturday, December 30, 2017Celebrating Walter J. Ong's Thought (REVIEW ESSAY) The occasion of the posthumous publication of Walter J. Ong's sixth book-length study warrants a retrospective survey of his previous book-length studies and of major themes in his thought. His posthumously published short book could be titled "Ong for Dummies: A Primer." That's not it actual title, but it is indeed truly a primer in Ong's thought. In the present review essay I will explain why his thought is important.
Friday, December 8, 2017Senator Al Franken of Minnesota to Resign On December 7, 2017, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota announced that he will resign soon. In my estimate, he made the right decision under the circumstances. Nevertheless, I want to comment on his case and certain other cases involving elected politicians.
Sunday, November 26, 2017A Reply to Stephen Marche's NYT Op-Ed Anger over Donald J. Trump's unexpected electors victory in the 2016 presidential election has prompted a tsunami of allegations against certain prominent and powerful American men for various kinds of sexual misconduct -- from groping to rape. These allegations prompted Stephen Marche to publish an op-ed commentary about them titled "The Unexamined Brutality of the Male Libido" in the New York Times.
Saturday, November 4, 2017You Are Suffering from Complex PTSD (REVIEW ESSAY) Recently I discovered Pete Walker's 370-page 2013 self-help book titled Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving. I found it massively informative, and I suspect that many OEN readers would also find it informative, especially those who are interested in thriving. You see, as Pete Walker delineates complex PTSD, virtually everybody is suffering from it to one degree or another. So all of us need to undertake recovery work.
Saturday, October 7, 2017Revisiting and Questioning Trump's Boasting to Billy Bush in 2005 On October 8, 2016, the Washington Post released unaired footage of Donald Trump, the Republican Party's 2016 presidential candidate, speaking in 2005 with Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood." Today an advocacy group is playing that videotape in front of the Washington Monument. First, I want to discuss Camille Paglia's recent comments about Hugh Hefner and Trump in the "Hollywood Reporter." Then I want to raise some questions.
Sunday, September 24, 2017Feeling Enraged and Practicing Non-Violence (REVIEW ESSAY) The classicist Emily Katz Anhalt of Sarah Lawrence College has published a remarkably accessible new book titled Enraged (Yale University Press, 2017). Taking a hint from her discussion of violence, I want to discuss feeling enraged in connection with non-violent political protest and certain related matters, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
Saturday, August 26, 2017A Jungian Profile of Trump Op-ed commentators have offered numerous psychological commentaries about Donald J. Trump. Is there room for one more such commentary? I hope there is because I want to draw on the thought of the late Robert Moore of the Chicago Theological Seminary to offer a psychological profile of Trump.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017Mark Lilla's Polemic about Identity Politics in the Democratic Party is Timely (REVIEW ESSAY) Today practitioners of identity politics are in power in the Democratic Party. But the Democratic Party is the out-of-power party both at the federal level of government and at the state level in many states. In his polemical new book, Mark Lilla critiques identity politics in the Democratic Party. In my estimate, the practitioners of identity politics in the Democratic Party should temper their brand of identity politics.
Saturday, August 5, 2017A Controversy in American Catholic Circles The Rome bureau chief of the New York Times published a news story in the Times about the controversy in American Catholic circles over an article-length editorial in the Jesuit-sponsored Rome-based Italian-language magazine La Civilta Cattolica. The English version of the editorial is "Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism in the USA: A Surprising Ecumenism." It is an informed defense of Pope Francis' views.
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