Brandon Ambrosino

Newark

Writer and Journalist at Freelance

Teaching Augustine & moral theology @VillanovaU. Studying Bioethics @LoyolaChicago. Trying to be kind on social media.

Articles

Rewind 2010s: Downton Abbey

1 month ago | liberty.edu | Zack Solem |Brandon Ambrosino

Amid the clinking of china plates, striking gowns and conversations in candlelit drawing rooms, the lives of aristocrats and their servants intertwine at the grand English manor of PBS’ notable period drama series. Set in early 20th-century Britain, Julian Fellowes’ beloved “Downton Abbey” explores themes of class, tradition and the time’s declining national aristocracy. In the United States, “Downton Abbey” first aired in 2011 and concluded in 2015.
White supremacy and the Latino vote

1 month ago | christiancentury.org | Paola Ramos |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Hojung Lee

I was a Spanish interpreter at a poll site in a majority Latino neighborhood during the 2020 presidential election. Throughout the day I helped a wide range of Spanish-speaking citizens exercise their civic duty—Americans of all ages and genders, bearing the full spectrum of skin complexions, living out what it means when we say we are a nation of immigrants. I was surprised both by how smoothly everything went and by how many average citizens it takes to make our democracy work.
Fighting climate change with Black soul power

2 months ago | christiancentury.org | Heather McTeer Toney |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Isaac S. Villegas

“How in the world are Black folks supposed to talk about climate change when we have other pressing issues to deal with? How and better yet, why?” Heather McTeer Toney’s opening questions cut to the chase: How is climate change relevant to Black Americans who already face daily challenges to survival? In a nation where every Black family knows the stakes of getting home before the streetlights come on, this is a legitimate question.
You can’t root out diversity in education - The Boston Globe

Mar 4, 2025 | bostonglobe.com | Brandon Ambrosino

Frederick Douglass.Engraving by J.C. ButtreBrandon Ambrosino, a theologian and ethicist, is a visiting assistant teaching professor at Villanova University. I’m currently leading my freshmen students through a weeks-long seminar on “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” a searingly brutal account of the slavery Douglass endured and the freedom he chased. Our conversations have been candid.
Episode 46: Palestinian theologian Munther Isaac, author of Christ in the Rubble

Feb 20, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Chris Thiessen |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Douglas Campbell

Welcome to Madang. Madang is the outdoor living room of the world. Here, we invite you to sit and tune into unreserved, remarkable conversations with renowned authors, leaders, public figures, and scholars on religion, culture, and everything in between. This is the 46th episode, featuring the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac talking about his new book, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza (Eerdmans, 2025).
America’s real sister act

Feb 19, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Chris Thiessen |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Amy Frykholm

History professor Shannen Dee Williams (AP Photo / Aaron Doster) Shannen Dee Williams is an associate professor of history at the University of Dayton who specializes in the African American experience and Black Catholicism. She is author of Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. Hear the full version of this interview on the Century podcast In Search Of.Can we start with an introduction to some of the Black Catholic sisters in your book? Absolutely.
Nosferatu and the horror of enlightenment

Feb 13, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Richard Lischer |Kathryn Reklis

“Do you ever feel at times as if you’re not a person?” German woman Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) says to her best friend Anna (Emma Corrin) in an early scene of Nosferatu (directed by Robert Eggers). “Someone or something,” she continues, “had the power to breathe life into you, to move you.” Anna has clearly never felt this way, and she looks both concerned and unsettled. Maybe, she suggests hopefully, this is the expansive love of God filling Ellen’s heart?
Kendrick Lamar was playing a different game at the Super Bowl

Feb 13, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Richard Lischer |Chris Thiessen

Let’s be honest: Super Bowl LIX was a snore. Thank God for Kendrick Lamar, whose halftime performance marked the first time a solo hip-hop artist headlined the Super Bowl. While most halftime shows serve merely as hit-filled career retrospectives, Lamar’s performance was a carefully crafted display of audiovisual storytelling designed precisely for this moment. Lamar is coming off one of the most triumphant years of his already illustrious career.
Did the mainline church pave the way for Christian nationalism?

Feb 12, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Brian Kaylor |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Richard Lischer

The 2025 inaugural prayer service sparked controversy, particularly around the remarks by Mariann Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Speaking directly to the president, Budde implored, “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” emphasizing the fears of the LGBTQ community and immigrants. This prophetic utterance delighted some Christian progressives, while conservative Christians condemned her words as disrespectful and inappropriate.
The role of judgment in Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s sophomore novel

Feb 11, 2025 | christiancentury.org | Taffy Brodesser-Akner |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Richard Lischer

Why read the book of the summer when the season is long over? Well, one reason might be that the book in question has an eschatological hole in the middle of it, big enough to drive a truck through, that other reviewers seem to have ignored—despite all the attention the book has received. Last July, there was a stretch when you couldn’t dip into an online lit mag or open a lifestyle section without seeing the praise (and the hype) for Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s second novel, Long Island Compromise.