Benjamin Van Dyne
Systematic Theology
Education
BA, Philosophy, University of Virginia, 2007
MDiv, Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, 2017
Biography
Benjamin Van Dyne is a doctoral student in systematic theology at Fordham University. His dissertation investigates the ontological presuppositions of Christian theological anthropology, particularly the various ways that social/discursive practices and materiality interact in the formation of racialized personhood. Engaging with the work of Black and Womanist theologians, thinkers in Black studies, and new materialist ontologies, his dissertation suggests that foregrounding this social–material interaction can indicate possible new directions for Christian theological anthropology and ethics.
Before coming to Fordham, Benjamin worked as a community organizer in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, New York City and Long Island. He studied philosophy at the University of Virginia and received a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary. His research at Union focused on theological meaning of the ways that white bodies are inevitably implicated in racialized violence.
A former Unitarian Universalist-turned-