Ben Witherington III


Ben Witherington III is an American New Testament scholar. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church. He has written over forty books and has made many appearances on radio and television programs, and is frequently featured on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and other major networks.

Education

Born on December 30, 1951, from High Point, North Carolina, Witherington attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, along with minors in Philosophy and Religious Studies. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the Durham University in England.

Career

Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. He is a prominent evangelical scholar. He is an elected member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.
Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.
Witherington has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Patheos website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.

Theology

Witherington is Armininan in his theology and refers to Arminianism as Wesleyanism. In The Problem with Evangelical Theology Witherington claims that Arminianism can show exegetical weakness when it comes to the experience of perfection. On the other hand he strongly challenges the exegetical foundation of Calvinism on each of its tenets. He particularly insists on the doctrine of Conditional preservation of the saints, and Prevenient grace in various publications, generally referring to the character of God and the nature of his grace and love as a justification for it.
He is also a devout pacifist.

Personal life

Witherington is married to Ann Witherington and had two children, Christy and David. On January 11, 2012 Witherington's daughter died of a pulmonary embolism.

Selected works

Books

Witherington has written articles in different journals as: Ashland Theological Journal, Bible Q & A, Beliefnet, Bible Review, Biblical Archaeology Review, Christian History, Christianity Today, Journal of Biblical Literature, New Testament Studies, North Carolina Christian Advocate, Quarterly Review, Tyndale Bulletin, UM Publishing House.

Citations