Is It God's Will?: Making Sense of Tragedy, Luck, and Hope in a World Gone Wrong

by Brandon Ambrosino, Daniel Henning (Read by)

Overview

In the wake of two foiled assassination attempts while Donald Trump was campaigning for President, many of his supporters claimed Trump's survival was an act of Divine intervention, and a sign that Trump was favored by God. In his victory speech, Trump alluded to this. But his survival prompts other questions: Why did God spare Trump, but not the retiree sitting behind him? Why couldn't God have spared everyone that day? And if God is truly omnipotent, why do so many children die in gun violence every year?

To award-winning journalist and theologian Brandon Ambrosino, these mortal questions provide us with an opportunity to explore the great questions about Divine and human agency, especially in relation to human tragedy and a world that seems to be slipping into chaos. In this powerful and searching enquiry—in the vein of N. T. Wright and C. S. Lewis—Ambrosino argues that theologians have been poorly equipped to confront these questions, because many hang on to an omnipotent model of God. Exploring the daily tragedies that so many of us must contend—as well as a provocative and challenging reading of Christ's death and resurrection—Ambrosino provides us with the tools to understand and process grief but also presents a refreshing portrait of less a God of power, and more of one of persuasion, who can still provide a residue of hope in a world gone wrong.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228679726
Publisher:	christianaudio
Publication date:	09/16/2025
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brandon Ambrosino is an award-winning journalist who has written for Politico, BBC, Vox, Boston Globe, Globe & Mail, the Atlantic, Smithsonian, Economist, Washington Post, and many other outlets. He is a visiting professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University, where he also received his PhD in theology. His work focuses on teasing out the theological implications of camp theory and aesthetics. His article "Someone's Gotta Tell the Freakin' Truth," on Jerry Falwell's tenure at Liberty University, was the second most-read article on the internet in 2019. A regular contributor to Commonweal and Christian Century, he writes a monthly "Theology for Kids" column at US Catholic Magazine called "Childish." He lives in Newark, Delaware.

Daniel Henning is a director, producer, actor, and writer. His work has been seen on HBO, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, MTV, Comedy Central, and on stages throughout Southern California. He won a 2017 Telly Award for "Best Writer" for the film version of his play The Tragedy of JFK (as Told by Wm. Shakespeare). As director and writer, his TV and film work includes MTV's Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and the film Critic's Choice. He won the NAACP Theatre Award for "Best Director of a Musical" for The Wild Party.

He is the Founding Artistic Director of Hollywood's The Blank Theatre, winning over 200 awards for his productions, including "Best Production," from LA Drama Critic Circle, LA Weekly, Ovations, NAACP, etc. Henning has been inspirational to thousands of young artists through his creation of The Blank's Young Playwrights Festival (the only professional nationwide competition for playwrights aged nine to nineteen). He directed the first play by 2016 Tony Award Winner for "Best Play" Stephen Karam when Stephen was seventeen and a winner in The Blank's Young Playwrights Festival.

Henning has also been an acting teacher and coach and is known for his ability to spot young talent. He has given opportunities to many young actors who later went on to success in Hollywood including Tessa Thompson, Noah Wyle, Alison Brie, Molly Shannon, Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. He coached Sarah Michelle Gellar on her auditions for the landmark TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and they shared a close personal friendship, even traveling to Australia together with family for New Year's Eve 2000, where the paparazzi photographed Henning and Gellar dancing. For several months, Henning was rumored to be dating Gellar in the Australian fan magazines (including Big Hit Magazine), which, of course, was inaccurate as Henning was traveling with his husband, Rick Baumgartner.
He is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and American Conservatory Theatre. His work for LGBTQ Equality includes creating the fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the Black Cat Protests (the first major LGBTQ Demonstration in the US) and directing and hosting the 2017 LA City Council LGBTQ Pride Ceremony. He was recently honored by the CA State Legislature for his work in LGBTQ Equality and nurturing the future of the Arts.

He has also narrated dozens of audiobooks, both nonfiction and fiction.

Editorial Reviews

"In Is It God’s Will?, Ambrosino sits with the uncomfortable, down in the basement of theology, as he calls it. And he invites his readers to go down there with him. To ask the difficult questions even if the answers remain incomplete and unsatisfying. To struggle with how to even ask the question. To think about what happens when God happens in this world that is far from perfect, and in which, against all odds, good things also happen. This is innovative theology with style, both delightful to read and rich food for thought."

Stefanie Knauss

This uplifting work is full of consolation and inbreaking light.  Ambrosino takes up tough theological and existential problems—suffering, divine inscrutability, the apparent senselessness of the world—in approachable, colloquial, and commonsense terms.   The result is an everyday spirituality of courage, love and hope for those in pain, isolation, or doubt—Ambrosino’s contagious confidence in God’s care will be a gift to readers!” 

Lisa Sowle Cahill

"A helpful, inviting and accessible guide to one of the most common questions in the spiritual life: "Why do bad things happen?" Or, for that matter, "Why do good things happen?"  Grounding himself in the Bible and in Christian theology, Brandon Ambrosino offers a compelling conversation about God's role in human affairs, and our response to God's sometimes mysterious activity."

James Martin

"In his accessible and conversational style, Brandon Ambrosino invites readers to explore profound questions about suffering and divine will. Does God care about our pain? Is suffering part of God's plan? Drawing from contemporary theology—particularly theopoetics—alongside ethics and science, Ambrosino offers illuminating insights on these challenging questions. His journey through tragedy and meaning culminates in a powerful observation: "hope for the world is not possible unless we first acknowledge that the world is a place worth hoping for." Dr. Ambrosino's writing is clear, engaging, and thoughtful, making complex theological concepts accessible to readers of all ages. Using suffering as a starting point, the book ultimately asks us to examine what kind of God we believe in. This exploration proves especially valuable in our current era, where suffering and hope intertwine amid global uncertainty and change."
 

Ilia Delio

In this thought-provoking book, Ambrosino wisely doesn’t give specifics as to what God’s powers and limits are, as these seem unknowable, but writes evocatively from his own experience . . .”

Splice Today

"Ambrosino offers a bold and deeply personal challenge to traditional theologies that portray God as micromanaging human suffering. Instead of defending an all-controlling deity who permits or orchestrates disaster, this book introduces us to a God who is intimately entangled in our world’s pain, creatively responding to it alongside with us and guiding us—through deep sorrow—toward radical hope. This is the God we need in our world today."

Ish Ruiz

"Brandon Ambrosino invites us to acknowledge that this disorderly and often painful world defies our systematized theologizing. If God saved a presidential candidate from assassination, why not the firefighter who did die? If God controls everything, why punish a world that’s gone wrong? If God is free to forgive, why must Jesus die? In response to such questions Ambrosino reads biblical texts with a discomfiting closeness, revealing that God becomes God in relationship with and among us, 'a god whose godness consists precisely in his loving.'

Greg Carey

"Brandon Ambrosino is one of my favourite thinkers. His writing never fails to fascinate, and he explores the topics of suffering and hope with depth, clarity and compassion. Is It God’s Will? is a welcome antidote to the cynicism of the world around us."

David Robson

Brandon Ambrosino's book is a pleasure to read. And it's not just his accessible writing and probing insights. It's also the vision of God he sets forth, often as a rejoinder to unhelpful visions of the divine. This is the kind of book I'll give a thoughtful person asking tough questions and seeking loving, and hopeful answers.

Thomas Jay Oord

"Why does God spare one house on a street hit by a tornado but not the others? Why does God allow innocent children to die or save one poor soul from cancer but not another? Brandon Ambrosino, a new and exciting theological voice, shows that these are not inscrutable mysteries to be accepted but confused questions and blasphemous images of God. Against this bankrupt theology, he offers a radically new conception of God which honors both God’s love and human dignity and seriously engaging the beautiful risk of life, a risk for both God and us."

John D. Caputo

"Brandon Ambrosino does theology that makes me literally shout with joy from my desk chair. That might seem like a weird endorsement for a book about suffering, but trust me: He's the writer to take with you into the darkest places."

Jessica Mesman