Benjamin Grant White
Born and raised in Canada, I completed the M.A. in Theology at Regent College followed by the Ph.D. in New Testament from Durham University, where I studied under Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, John M. G. Barclay, FBA. After several years of teaching at institutions in New York City, I was Visiting Fellow at Yale Divinity School and then Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School.
I am currently based in the Theology Department at Boston College, where I teach undergraduate courses within the Theology Core.
My interests bridge the gap between the church and the academy, the Bible and Christian theology. I am currently engaged in research on the meaning of 'power' in Paul, the use of Paul's power in weakness paradox in the early church, the apocalyptic elements of Paul's gospel, and how the legacy of Paul (and the first Christians more generally) might shape current discussions about the decline of the institutional church and the future of Christian faith.
My first book is entitled Pain and Paradox in 2 Corinthians: The Transformative Function of Strength in Weakness (Mohr Siebeck, 2021). It was the subject of a review panel at the 2022 British New Testament Conference at the University of St Andrews. A revised and expanded edition geared toward students and ministers, with a Foreword by Lisa M. Bowens and an Afterword by Amy Peeler, releases on October 20, 2026 (with IVP Academic).
I am currently at work on two new books, the first - under contract with Baker Academic - is a work of Pauline theology which responds to Friedrich Nietzsche's criticism that Paul idolizes human weakness. The second, a work of public-facing scholarship, explores how the early church lost sight of Paul's vision of power in weakness during the rise of Constantine. It offers suggestions for how modern faith communities might recover this perspective on power, which is often read as personal and private but was, for several centuries, largely taken as a prescription for the church's public witness.
I have been a guest editor for the Journal of Theological Interpretation, given invited papers at Columbia University and Harvard Divinity School, and I have presented my academic work at major conferences, including the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the British New Testament Conference. My research has been supported by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies and the Priscilla and Stanford Reid Trust for Theological Education. I am also the co-editor, with John Barclay, of a collection of essays entitled The New Testament in Comparison: Validity, Method, and Purpose in Comparing Traditions (T&T Clark, 2020).
My writing for public audiences has appeared in a variety of outlets, including the print editions of The Boston Globe, Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. I was recently awarded a 'Scholars as Storytellers' Fellowship from The Narrative Project (a partnership between the Century and Northeastern University) to support my work as a public communicator.
I am also a senior fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians and a former pastoral tutor at St. John's College, Durham.
Outside of the classroom and the study, I am an avid basketball fan, a weekend reader of The New York Times, and a happy resident of the little corner of Connecticut that my family and I call home.