Trying to Capture, Cautiously, the O'Malley Style

Abstract

John W. O’Malley, S.J., has proffered and used the concept of style so as to name something other than content that is needed in order to understand argument or research. In a way, style is to contemporary argument what rhetoric was to grammar. This essay attempts to capture what O’Malley means by style, but also, and more importantly seeks to describe or capture O’Malley’s own style. By employing the different formats that Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal offers, the essay tries to highlight the relevance and richness of style in communicating the self to the other. In a word, style is the bridge that makes an argument understood, recognized, and remembered. O’Malley makes sure in both his own writings and his style that we never forget the necessity of style for living out our vocations as researchers, teachers, mentors and colleagues.