
Robert Orsi
Robert Anthony Orsi is a scholar of American history and Catholic studies who is the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair professor at Northwestern University. Before coming to Northwestern, Orsi chaired the department of religious studies at Harvard University.
Finding the Presence in Mormon History: An Interview with Susanna Morrill, Richard Lyman Bushman, and Robert Orsi
Articles/Essays – Volume 44, No. 3
Susanna Morrill: I’d like to start the conversation by asking four framing questions relating to the issue of religious experience: First, are “abundant events” proper subjects of study for historians of religion? Second, how do historians of religions go about studying such experiences within the methodological expectations of the academy? Third, what are the responsibilities of scholars to the believers whom they write about? And fourth, to what extent will, and should, the faith of scholars appear in their work? Richard, could you start start the discussion with the ideas Robert offers in his article?
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