A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Beginning with metaphysical debates in the sixteenth century over the nature of Christ's presence in the host, the distinguished historian and scholar of religion Robert Orsi imagines an alternative to the future of religion that early moderns proclaimed was inevitable. "Orsi's evoking of the full reality of the holy in the world is extremely moving, shot through with wonder and horror." -Caroline Walker Bynum, Common Knowledge "This is a meticulously researched, humane, and deeply challenging book. The men and women studied in this book do not belong to 'a world we have lost.' They belong to a world we have lost sight of." -Peter Brown, Princeton University "[A] brilliant, theologically sophisticated exploration of the Catholic experience of God's presence through the material world... On every level-from its sympathetic, honest, and sometimes moving ethnography to its astute analytical observations-this book is a scholarly masterpiece." -A. W. Klink, Choice "Orsi recaptures God's breaking into the world ... The book does an excellent job of explaining both the difficulties and values inherent in recognizing God in the world." -Publishers Weekly "This book is classic Orsi: careful, layered, humane, and subtle...a thought-provoking, expertly arranged tour of precisely those abundant, excessive phenomena which scholars have historically found so difficult to think." -Sonja Anderson, Reading Religion

Debates about the meaning of Vatican II and its role in modern Catholic and global history have largely focused on close theological study of its authoritative documents. This volume of newly commissioned essays contends that the historical significance of the council is best examined where these messages encountered the particular circumstances of the modern world: in local dioceses around the world. Each author examines the social, political, and domestic circumstances of a diocese, asking how they produced a distinctive lived experience of the Council and its aftermath. How did the Council change relationships and institutions? What was it like for laymen and women, for clergy, for nuns, for powerful first-world dioceses and for those in what we now know as the global south? A comparative reading of these chapters affords insights into these dimensions of Vatican II, and will spark a new generation of research into the history of twentieth-century Catholicism as both international and local.

The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies is both informative and provocative, introducing readers to key debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggesting future research possibilities. A group of distinguished scholars takes up some of the most pressing theoretical questions in the field. What is a 'religious tradition'? How are religious texts read? What takes place when a religious practitioner stands before a representation of gods or goddesses, ghosts, ancestors, saints, and other special beings? What roles is religion playing in contemporary global society? The volume emphasizes religion as a lived practice, stressing that people have used and continue to use religious media to engage the circumstances of their lives. This underlying conviction provides a realistic perspective on religion, and the volume's essays engage with real-world religious practices. The volume's essays should prove valuable and interesting to a broad audience, including scholars in the humanities and social sciences and a general readership, as well as students of religious studies.

The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies is both informative and provocative, introducing readers to key debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggesting future research possibilities. A group of distinguished scholars takes up some of the most pressing theoretical questions in the field. What is a 'religious tradition'? How are religious texts read? What takes place when a religious practitioner stands before a representation of gods or goddesses, ghosts, ancestors, saints, and other special beings? What roles is religion playing in contemporary global society? The volume emphasizes religion as a lived practice, stressing that people have used and continue to use religious media to engage the circumstances of their lives. This underlying conviction provides a realistic perspective on religion, and the volume's essays engage with real-world religious practices. The volume's essays should prove valuable and interesting to a broad audience, including scholars in the humanities and social sciences and a general readership, as well as students of religious studies.

"A hugely important, beautifully written book. "Between Heaven and Earth" is vintage Orsi, the work of our leading historian of twentieth-century American Catholicism at the top of his game."--Richard Wightman Fox, University of Southern California, author of "Jesus in America: Personal Savior, Cultural Hero, National Obsession"

"A stunning contribution to the field. Not only does this book creatively transcend the old maxim about religion being about the construction of meaning, but it also radically undercuts scholars who disparage the 'superstitious' worlds of their subjects. Moreover, in a dizzying, personal narrative Orsi takes us into the hidden places of his own and his family's soul and spirit--with surgical precision that excises pain to make it available for methodological scrutiny. What is so refreshing about reading Orsi's work is that it genuinely is literature: it is religious studies as an art form, highly disciplined, superbly executed, gripping in presentation. This is a book that holds the reader."--Catherine L. Albanese, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of "America: Religions and Religion"

"Robert Orsi's "Between Heaven and Earth" is yet another one of his masterful scholarly achievements in the study of the history of Catholicism in America. I cannot think of anyone writing in the area who has the depth, intellect, creativity, and knowledge of Orsi."--Gary M. Laderman, Emory University, author of "Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth-Century America"

"Orsi has not written a memoir, per se, but has rather found in his own family a rich archive, full of religious experiences that tell stories about theextraordinary meanings ordinary people create in their lives."--"Publishers Weekly"

"Religion is 'not benign, ' Orsi warns, but is as richly ambiguous, as fraught with complexity, contradiction and tragedy as the lives of its adherents. By its very nature, religion deals with our deepest longings and most bitter frustrations, especially concerning our relationships with others. As a consequence, he argues, it cannot be studied in a merely 'scientific' or 'objective' way."--Paul Baumann, "Chicago Tribune"

"An impressive fusion of the inner histories of immigrant social and religious life." -John W. Briggs, American Historical Review "An in-depth historical study of the Italian-American community and its religion, without sentimentalizing values and perceptions."-Kirkus Reviews In a masterful evocation of Italian Harlem and the men and women who lived there, Robert Orsi examines how the annual festa of the Madonna of 115th Street both influenced and reflected the lives of the celebrants. His prize-winning book offers a new perspective on lived religion, the place of religion in the everyday lives of men, women, and children, the experiences of immigration and community formation, and American Catholicism. This edition includes a new introduction by the author that outlines both the changes that Italian Harlem has undergone in recent years and significant shifts in the field of religious history.

"Fascinating insights into modern urban religious practice make Orsi'scollection a must-read." -- Publishers Weekly

"The essays provideinsight into the cultural creativity, reinterpretation of worship and religiousingenuity of city people over the last 50 years." -- LibraryJournal

"At last, a major dissection of the great mystery inmodern American
life -- how religion and spirituality prospered amidstindustrialization,
urbanization, and rampant technological change after1880!" -- Jon Butler, Yale University

"Urban religion"strikes many as an oxymoron. How can religion thrive in the alienated, secular, fast-paced, and materialistic world of the modern, Western city? The authors in thiscollection believe that cities not only can provide the settings for religiousexpression, but also are material to the experiences which give rise to thosereligious expressions. In this book, they explore the distinctly urban forms ofreligious experience and practice that have developed in relation to the spaces, social conditions, and history of American cities.