Beaver Falls, PA – Geneva College announces 2024 conference entitled: “Orality and Literacy in an Age of Social Media.” The conference will take place at Geneva College on Thursday and Friday, April 4 and 5. The conference is an opportunity to network with others in the academic space, share research and insight, and engage in a pressing topic of the modern age.
The College welcomes paper submissions from students and faculty in the region. Paper proposal submissions should be a 300-500 word abstract with a bibliography. Submissions should have all author identification, including author name and university affiliation, removed. Abstracts can be submitted as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF by emailing Sarah Speicher at sbspeich@geneva.edu.
Deadline for Submission: Saturday, October 30, 2023, 11:59 p.m. EST Proposal Submissions: Attn. Sarah S. Speicher, sbspeich@geneva.edu
The conference title finds inspiration in the work of Walter J. Ong’s influential works The Presence of the Word and Orality & Literacy, inviting us to ask, what are words and how do words work? Ong’s reflections on oral patterns of thinking, transitions in writing and printing, and prescient insights regarding our social media technologies provoke stimulating questions worth considering. The conference title invites scholars into a convivial conversation around the question: How might people like us interpret ‘In the beginning was the Word’ for our time?
Any questions regarding the conference may be sent to Sarah Speicher at sbspeich@geneva.edu.
The conference will also include two keynote speakers. : Arthur W. Hunt III and James D. Dvorak.
Arthur W. Hunt III is a retired professor of communications from the University of Tennessee at Martin and author of The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World (Crossway, 2003) and Surviving Technopolis: Essays on Finding Balance in Our New Man-Made Environments (Pickwick, 2013).
James D. Dvorak is Vice President Academic and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. He is author of The Interpersonal Metafunction in 1 Corinthians 1–4 (Brill, 2021) and numerous articles and chapters on biblical Greek language and linguistics.
Jonathan Watt, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies and Chair of the Bible, Christian Ministries, and Philosophy Department at Geneva College states, “We want to weave together the legacy of the late guru of orality and literacy, Walter Ong, with discussion of what is transpiring in our super-connected globalizing age. We hope to draw a diversity of scholars from various disciplines who can construct creative and insightful discussion of the ecological environment of communication that surrounds us today.”
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Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God’s kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva’s programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).
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