Introduction

In the book, “Presence of the word,” Walter explores the nature and chronology of the word through its various aspects including psychological, social, religious and literary dimensions. Walter divulges that man has to find God in the word to offer more in sound than in sight. In discussing the presence of the word through time and in its diverse dimensions, Walter brings out several ideas regarding the word and God thus this paper will explore five thoughts from the book and explain them accordingly.

Word as a sensorium

Word is the primary medium to and through senses underlying all interactions that humans engage in with all the senses. The word, just like sound, is defined and determined based on how it connects to the human senses (Ong, 6). Man interacts with the whole body, and since his senses are overwhelming, some senses have to get neglected at any one given time to give priority to the one that is in context (Ong, 6). In the case of the word, all other senses are neglected for the sense of sound to get attended to in the same way that the senses other senses are neglected when a man tastes a flavor. The power of the word as a sensorium gets illustrated in the word of God by being accorded power and its effect on human through the Call of Abraham and Jacob (Ong,12). Therefore, word receives the same responses from the human body as other senses of taste, sight or smell and thus the word is a medium of sensory transfer like the other senses.

Writings are a technological advancement of word

Word has gone through transformation stages from oral to modern electronic writing. Interaction has developed through the word in it three successive stages verbal, script and the most recent electronic which are interconnected (Ong, 17). One has to understand the oral and oral-aural content of Man to comprehend writing in print or electronic forms. Writing is a technological product of the spoken word. The oral stage of the word is the unrecorded word in which case the word was an event it (Ong, 23). The script stage represents a more organized system that serves concepts directly as opposed illustrating the objects on which the ideas lie (Ong, 36). The script stage gets illustrated by print and emergencies and use of alphabets. The electronic stage is the most recent stage word that is base on the script stage and is further subdivided to telegraph telephone and radio among others (Ong, 87). Thus, writing is an advancement of the word from unrecorded oral to print and electronic codes.

The word is history

The advancement of the word from oral to electronic indicates that word is a history that has grown and advanced over time from simple sound in the oral stage to the more complex electronic form. The advancements of the word from sound to space and ultimately to electronically-restructured sound is only a system of reorganizing the word sensorium (Ong, 179). Throughout the transformations into different stages, the word does not entirely depart for sound at any one point. In the last electronic stage which is the most recent form of the word, only reorganizes the word as a sensory medium which changes the relationship of man with other men and with his physical surrounding radically (Ong, 176). The changes that take place with the with word also only affect man’s existence to a certain degree that proposes new responses but are partial in the context of the older questions (Ong, 177). Therefore, the word remains a history even after the transformations only reorganized and restructured.

The structure of the word is peace

The primary nature of the word is peaceful regardless of whether it is sacred or hostile. The fabric of word is built of peace, and the presence of word represents peace. Although words get used to in hostile and war zones and situations, the mare presences and use of words in the context mean that there is communication that is happening. The ability to still exchange words shows that the situation is not entirely hostile since the two people can still engage (Ong, 192). If a person is still contacting another even when the words are hurtful, it means that they still hold the person to some degrees and if the other person replies it indicates there still is a connection between the two. Therefore, mean and hurtful words are more of signs of a wounded attraction or liking that represents a search for peace.

God’s presence is the word to man

The word is the medium of communication in an interaction between man and silence in that context may indicate a lack of communication. Word is also essential in religion and interaction of believers with God. However, with God, the word does not have to be in the moment since God has already spoken through His word to man. Furthermore, the word is not always present as sound given the different transformations of the word through the various stages. The word of God today exists in print, for, instance, like the Bible for Christians. The word of God gets personified in history in Jesus Christ (Ong, 316). Therefore, God’s presence is enough to qualify as His communication to man and thus as good as the word to man.

Conclusion

The work in the book expounds on the word and translates the aspects ideas of the word in a religious context. Several ideas get provided in the book regarding word and its aspects and power. Firstly, the word is a sensory medium since it typifies similar responses to man’s senses. Secondly, the word is history because the primary elements of the word from the oral culture stage, sound, is still evident in modern forms of the word. Thirdly, and structured towards peace. The idea that writings are technological advancements of the word gets explained. Finally, God’s silence is the word to man since God has incarnated Himself in history and Jesus Christ.

Works cited

Ong, J. Walter. “Presence of the word.” Yale University press, 2000. Pg 1-324.