Orality & Literacy and the Life of the Soul
March 26-27, 2026
The annual Orality & Literacy conference at Geneva College, inspired by Walter J. Ong’s The Presence of the Word and Orality & Literacy, invites us to ask what are words and how do words work in the life of the soul? Written words and spoken words address us differently in spirit. Different religious ecclesiology’s privilege the written word over the spoken word with dramatic differences in how humans understand religious experience. As media scholars have observed, the book tends to individuate experience whereas a speech produces a sense of corporate belonging and affinity either for or against what is being said. Such questions are what we invite panelists to address at next year’s conference considering how human interactions are formed and cultivated depending on a bias for written or spoken words. Most importantly we will consider how this bias shapes our understanding of what is true, and how the desire to know truth mirrors the deepest longings of the soul.
Location:
Geneva College | 3200 College Ave. Beaver Falls, PA 15010
Registration Pricing:
- $125 per guest (General Admission), Includes a dinner banquet plus breakfast, lunch and wrap-up dinner (Friday)
- $75 for Graduate Students (Any College)
- Geneva College faculty (PT or FT) have their fee covered by the Lilly Foundation
- Geneva Students (No fee)
Lodging:
- Microtel can provide conference-goers a Geneva rate of about $95 + tax
Contact:
Dr. Jonathan Watt
Professor of English at Geneva College
Phone: 724-847-6725
Email: jwatt@geneva.edu
Orality & Literacy Conference Schedule
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Thursday March 26, 2026 |
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11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. |
Registration & Lunch |
Alexander Dining Hall – Benedum Room |
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1 – 1:10 p.m. |
Greetings & Opening Remarks |
President Calvin Troup |
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1:15 – 2 p.m. |
1st Keynote Presentation / GVALS |
T. David Gordon – Skye Lounge |
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2 – 2:25 p.m. |
“Words That Shape a People: Communal Discourse in Reformed Christian Practice” |
Shawn Anderson |
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2:30 – 2:55 p.m. |
“The Law Written on the Heart: Intersection of Orality & Literacy in New Covenant” |
Zachary Kail |
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3 – 3:25 p.m. |
“Transfigural Reading of Scripture Grounded in the Literal Meaning of the Text” |
Daniel Fleming |
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3:25 – 3:45 p.m. |
Coffee Break |
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3:45 – 4:10 p.m. |
“Quem Quaeritis? Passion Plays, Literacy, and the Shape of Medieval Spirituality” |
Nathan Eshelman |
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4:15 – 4:40 p.m. |
“When the Medium is the Message and the Message is Divine: Rhetorical Signatures…” |
Meghan Dunn |
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4:45 – 5:10 p.m. |
“Why Should We ‘Know By Heart’?” |
Calvin L. Troup |
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5:15 – 5:40 p.m. |
“Finding Sharon’s Lillies in the N.T.” |
Jeffrey Stivason |
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5:45 – 6 p.m. |
“Written on the Heart” – Devotional Reflection |
Regina L. Sturiale |
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6 – 7:30 p.m. |
Opening Conference Banquet |
College Hill Reformed Presbyterian Church |
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7:30 – 7:55 p.m. |
“When Words Meet Us From Algorithms: Bias & Changing Address of Language” |
Tiffany Petricini |
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8 – 8:25 p.m. |
“Poetry of the Word: Opportunities/Pitfalls” |
Joshua Hill |
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8:30 – 8:55 p.m. |
“Education, Diglossia and Social Context Expectation in the New Testament” |
C. Scott Shidemantle |
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8:55 – 9 p.m. |
Conference Admin – Announcements |
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Friday March 27, 2026 |
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8:30 – 9 a.m. |
Coffee & Snacks |
Skye Lounge |
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9 – 9:25 a.m. |
“Rhetoric as Ornament: Orality as the Soul of Literacy” |
Joel Ward |
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9:30 – 9:55 a.m. |
“Humiliation of Present Word: Remembering Dead with Generative A.I.” |
Ryan Eisenhuth |
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10 – 10:25 a.m. |
“‘Speke Wel of Love’: Chaucer’s Self-Imposed Penance & Word Twist in Phil. Legend” |
Bethany Campbell |
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10:30 – 10:55 a.m. |
“Digital Communication as Hybrid of Written/Spoken Word, Shaping Young Adults’ Self…” |
Carol Cooper |
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11 – 11:25 a.m. |
“The Holos Case Conceptualization Model” |
Regina L. Sturiale |
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11:30 – 11:55 a.m. |
“How to Marry the Considerable Strengths of Liberal Arts…to the Craftsman’s Workshop” |
Brett Walker |
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12 – 1 p.m. |
Lunch |
Alexander Hall – Benedum Room |
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1 – 1:25 p.m. |
“The Role of Orality in Contact-Induced Language Change” |
Jonathan M. Watt |
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1:30 – 1:55 p.m. |
“Digital Orality” |
Johannes Oberholzer |
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2 – 2:25 p.m. |
“Voices of Souls Behind Walls: Orality, Dignity & Language of Respect in Forensic Counseling” |
Rebecca Andrews & Regina L. Sturiale |
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2:30 – 2:55 p.m. |
“Creation as Speech/Text: Ecological Metaphors & Contemplation of Nature” |
Laura Cerbus |
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2:55 – 3:15 p.m. |
Snack Break |
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3:15 – 3:40 p.m. |
“Culture-Building through Online Communication: The Rabbit Room” |
Kate Mead |
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3:45 – 4:10 p.m. |
“Promoting the Work of the Writing Center in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” |
Megan Morton |
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4:15 – 4:40 p.m. |
“On Orality & Literacy for Writing Tutors” |
Kiera Metcalf |
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4:45 – 5:30 p.m. |
2nd Keynote Presentation |
Andrew McLuhan |
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6 – 7 p.m. |
Concluding Dinner Banquet |
College Hill Reformed Presbyterian Church |