Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Orsi, Robert A., PUBLISHER: Princeton University Press, "Between Heaven ong>andong> Earth" explores ong>theong> relationships men, women, ong>andong> children have formed with ong>theong> Virgin Mary ong>andong> ong>theong> saints in twentieth-century American Catholic history, ong>andong> reflects, more broadly, on how people live in ong>theong> company of sacred figures ong>andong> how ong>theong>se relationships shape ong>theong> ties between people on earth. In this boldly argued ong>andong> beautifully written book, Robert Orsi also considers how scholars of religion occupy ong>theong> ground in between belief ong>andong> analysis, faith ong>andong> scholarship. Orsi infuses his analysis with an autobiographical voice steeped in his own Italian-American Catholic background--from ong>theong> devotion of his uncle Sal, who had cerebral palsy, to a "crippled saint," Margaret of Castello; to ong>theong> bond of his Tuscan grong>andong>moong>theong>r with Saint Gemma Galgani. Religion exists not as a medium of making meanings, Orsi maintains, but as a network of relationships between heaven ong>andong> earth involving people of all ages as well as ong>theong> many sacred figures ong>theong>y hold dear. Orsi argues that modern academic ong>theong>orizing about religion has long sanctioned dubious distinctions between "good" or "real" religious expression on ong>theong> one hong>andong> ong>andong> "bad" or "bogus" religion on ong>theong> oong>theong>r, which marginalize ong>theong>se everyday relationships with sacred figures. This book is a brilliant critical inquiry into ong>theong> lives that people make, for better or worse, between heaven ong>andong> earth, ong>andong> into ong>theong> ways scholars of religion could better study of ong>theong>se worlds.