Robert Anthony Orsi (born 1953) is
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.

Life

Orsi was born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City. He majored in religion and sociology at Trinity College (CT) and graduated salutatorian in 1975, receiving both a Danforth and Watson Scholarship. He attended graduate school in religion at Yale University where his prize-winning dissertation formed the basis of his first book, ''The Madonna of 115th Street''. He taught at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

at Lincoln Center from 1981 to 1988, at Indiana University from 1988 to 2001, and Harvard University/ Harvard Divinity School from 2001 to 2007. He currently teaches at Northwestern University. He is the editor of ''The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies'' (2011) and the author of ''History and Presence'' (2016). He is also Grace Craddock Nagle Chair of Catholic Studies and Professor of Religious Studies, History, and American Studies and Faculty Fellow (2020-2021) at the University of Notre Dame.

Awards

* 2000

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 1999 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship *

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

* John Gilmary Shea Prize from the American Catholic Historical Association, for ''The Madonna of 115th Street'' * Jesuit National Book Award, for ''The Madonna of 115th Street'' *

Merle Curti Award The Merle Curti Award is awarded annually by the Organization of American Historians for the best book in American social and/or American intellectual history. It is named in honor of Merle Curti Merle Eugene Curti (September 15, 1897 – March ...

in American Social History from the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...

, for ''Thank You, Saint Jude'' * Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion, for ''Between Heaven and Earth''

Works

"When 2+2=5", ''The American Scholar'', Spring 2007
*
History and Presence.
' The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2016. . * * (1st edition 1985; 2nd edition 2002), *

Edited

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orsi, Robert A. American historians of religion Northwestern University faculty Living people Presidents of the American Academy of Religion 1953 births University of Notre Dame faculty