The Presence of the Word

by Walter J. Ong

The deed of gift declares that “the object of this foundation is not the promotion of scientific investigation and discovery, but rather the assimilation and interpretation of that which has been or shall be hereafter discovered, and its application to human welfare, especially by the building of the truths of science and philosophy into the structure of a broadened and purified religion. The founder believes that such a religion will greatly stimulate intelligent effort for the improvement of human conditions and the advancement of the race in strength and excellence of character. To this end it is desired that a series of lectures given by men eminent in their respective departments, on ethics, the history of civilization and religion, biblical research, all sciences and branches of knowledge which have an important bearing on the subject, all the great laws of nature, especially of evolution ... also such interpretations of literature and sociology as are in accord with the spirit of this foundation, to the end that the Christian spirit may be nurtured in the fullest light of the world’s knowledge and that mankind may be helped to attain its highest possible welfare and happiness upon this earth.” The present work constitutes the thirty-fourth volume published on this foundation.

A Global Academic Publishing Book

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Language, Linguistics, Religion, Anthropology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Naum · Rating 5 out of 5]

The single review on Amazon.com is titled "Please make sure your trays are in the upright and locked..."… …and I must concur, this book is a portent, a wondrous ride, into an examination of orality v. literacy. Things you thought you knew you question and other bits dent the cranium, with a foreboding of realms hitherto un-conjured.

Must add more to this, as this blurb may strike as cryptic, but I need to reread to even wrestle with the content -- how spoken word manifests, the cultural manifestations, and yet, each technological advance bears the legacy of previous media.

[Rishabh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The central theme of this book is the radical difference between the nature of experience of the oral (pre-scientific) and the modern literate society.

Different eras of human civilization gives varied emphasis on different senses - like touch, vision, hearing etc. For the oral-aural society, the sense of hearing (or sound) was of primordial importance. The 'word' of god held a special place in their consciousness, which was mostly unaffected by other senses such as vision. This not only created a sense of personal relation with God but also fostered a sense of harmony in the communities. In contrast, the modern man's reality is primarily visual (and somewhat tactile). What is real for him is mostly determined by what he can see and touch, and very little emphasis is given to sounds. This drastic shift has created a heightened sense of individuality in the mind of the modern man.

Walter's analysis stresses the primacy of sounds in the phenomenonal experience of man - since it is sound alone, which reveals the 'interior' of the phenomenon in its wholeness, whereas vision only reveals the surface and cannot reveals the interior without breaking it into fragments - which has become the hallmark of modern reductionist science.