Prayer Cards and Holy Dirt: The Robert Orsi Approach

History and Presence extends directly from Orsi's pioneering work more than a generation ago. Then, he aimed to highlight the tension between the theology of the streets and official church pronouncements. Now, he explores a different tension: whereas ordinary believers continue to bear witness to gods and spirits and experience both advantages and challenges that extend from relationships with transcendent beings, intellectual and cultural leaders today habitually deny the very existence of such beings, disparaging and marginalizing the masses who put faith in them. Casting his sympathy with the masses, Orsi invites contemporary scholars to “approach history and culture with the gods fully present”—that is, he invites them to suspend their skepticism and take seriously the idea that engagements with transcendent powers have real-life consequences for people.