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.