Elizabeth Bruenig

Elizabeth Bruenig
Bruenig in 2018
Born (1990-12-05) December 5, 1990 (age 33)
Other namesLiz Bruenig
Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig
Alma mater
OccupationJournalist
Years active2014–present
EmployerThe Atlantic
Spouse
(m. 2014)
Children2

Elizabeth Bruenig (née Stoker; born December 6, 1990) is an American journalist working as an opinion writer for The Atlantic. She previously worked as an opinion writer for The New York Times, and as an opinion writer and editor for The Washington Post, where she wrote about ethics, politics, theology, and economics. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2019[1] and in 2023.[1]

Early life and education

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Bruenig was born in Arlington, Texas.[2] She attended Martin High School.[3] She graduated from Brandeis University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in English and sociology and a minor in Near Eastern and Judaic studies.[4] As a recipient of the Marshall Scholarship,[5] she studied at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, where she earned a Master of Philosophy degree in Christian theology[6] under the supervision of John Hughes.[7] She was named a 2014–2015 Presidential Fellow at Brown University, where she was a doctoral student in religious studies,[8][9] but left Brown without a degree in 2015.[10]

Career

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Bruenig was an opinion writer and editor for The Washington Post,[11] The New York Times, and now writes for The Atlantic. She writes about ethics, politics, theology, and economics.[12] Previously, she was a staff writer for The New Republic.[13] With her husband Matt, Bruenig co-hosts a podcast The Bruenigs.[14] In the past, they have written together for The Atlantic.[15] She has also been a contributor to the Left, Right, & Center radio show.[16][17] On May 12, 2021, it was announced that she would depart The New York Times for The Atlantic at the end of the month.[18]

In a profile published by Washington Monthly, she is described as "the most prominently placed of a small but increasingly visible group of young writers unabashedly advocating for democratic socialism."[19] In an article in Deseret News, Lois Collins described Bruenig as "just left of Bernie Sanders on economics, openly religious and quietly anti-abortion."[20]

In September 2018, Bruenig described a 2006 sexual assault on a woman by the name of Amber Wyatt at Martin High School in Arlington, Bruenig's own alma mater, in a story for the Post, describing the assault's repercussions.[21][22] She started tracking the details of Wyatt's story in 2015.[3][23][24] In 2019, Bruenig was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing, for one of her pieces covering Wyatt's sexual assault, "What Do We Owe Her Now?"[21] The citation reads: "For eloquent reflections on the exile of a teen sexual assault victim in the author's Texas hometown, delving with moral authority into why the crime remained unpunished."[2]

Bruenig was named in the 2019 edition of Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 list.[25]

Personal life

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Bruenig was raised Methodist, but converted to Catholicism after studying Christian theology and the work of St. Augustine of Hippo in university, becoming confirmed into the Catholic church in 2014.[20][26] Bruenig married Matt Bruenig, whom she met in their high school debate team in Arlington,[19] in 2014.[27] They have two daughters together.[20]

Published works

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  • "Taking Augustine as Guide". In Schwindt, Daniel (ed.). Radically Catholic in the Age of Francis: An Anthology of Visions for the Future. Valparaiso, Indiana: Solidarity Hall Press. 2015. ISBN 978-0-692-40977-0.
  • "Church". In McElwee, Joshua J.; Wooden, Cindy (eds.). A Pope Francis Lexicon. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. 2018. pp. 15–17. ISBN 978-0-8146-4545-1.

References

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  1. ^ a b www.pulitzer.org https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/. Retrieved May 9, 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Finalist: Elizabeth Bruenig of The Washington Post". The Pulitzer Prizes. New York: Columbia University. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "What Happens When a Rape Is Reported, but No One Is Prosecuted". All Things Considered. NPR. September 24, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  4. ^ "Where Will Your Future Take You?". Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  5. ^ "Elizabeth Stoker '13 Wins Marshall Scholarship". BrandeisNOW. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University. November 19, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  6. ^ "Elizabeth Bruenig". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  7. ^ Bruenig, Elizabeth (March 1, 2015). "Fear of a Radical Pope". The New Republic. New York. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  8. ^ "2014–2015 Presidential Fellows". Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  9. ^ Bruenig, Elizabeth (January 5, 2015). "Marketing Motherhood: The Meaning of Vocation in a Secular World". America. Vol. 212, no. 1. New York. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  10. ^ Bruenig, Elizabeth [@ebruenig] (March 11, 2019). "i keep getting mistaken for a current phd candidate at brown, which i am not. i dropped out of my phd program in '15" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 11, 2019 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Hiatt, Fred; Marcus, Ruth; Diehl, Jackson (October 25, 2017). "Elizabeth Bruenig Joins Opinions Staff as Writer and Editor". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  12. ^ "Shorenstein Center Speaker Series: Elizabeth Bruenig". Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  13. ^ "Elizabeth Bruenig". The New Republic. New York. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  14. ^ "The Bruenigs Are Creating a Podcast". Patreon. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  15. ^ "Matt Bruenig and Elizabeth Stoker". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  16. ^ "Elizabeth Bruenig". Santa Monica, California: KCRW. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  17. ^ Bruenig, Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Bruenig on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on May 25, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  18. ^ "Elizabeth Bruenig to Join The Atlantic as a Staff Writer". The Atlantic. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Edelman, Gilad (2018). "What the New Socialists Really Want". Washington Monthly. Vol. 50, no. 7/8. p. 10. ISSN 0043-0633. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  20. ^ a b c Collins, Lois M. (April 26, 2022). "Meet the socialist Catholic who confounds the left and the right". Deseret News. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Bruenig, Elizabeth (September 21, 2018). "What Do We Owe Her Now?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  22. ^ Allen, Cynthia M. (September 28, 2018). "If You Want to #believesurvivors, Start with This Arlington Rape Victim". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas: McClatchy. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  23. ^ Stevens, Heidi (September 21, 2018). "2 Stories That Remind Us the Brett Kavanaugh Story Is About Us as Much as It Is About Him". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  24. ^ Dreher, Rod (September 19, 2018). "What Happened to Amber Wyatt". The American Conservative. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  25. ^ "30 Under 30 2020: Media". Forbes. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  26. ^ Bruenig, Elizabeth (August 7, 2017). "How Augustine's Confessions and Left Politics Inspired My Conversion to Catholicism". America. Vol. 217, no. 3. New York. ISSN 0002-7049. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  27. ^ "Our 6th Wedding Anniversary; Riffing on Internet Insanities". The Bruenigs (Podcast). June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020 – via Patreon.