Benjamin Valentin
B.A. College of New Rochelle (1992)
M.T.S. Harvard University Divinity School (1994)
Ph.D. Drew University (2000)
A native of New York City and born of Puerto Rican parents in East Harlem, Benjamin Valentin taught at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, for fifteen years, where he was Professor of Theology and Culture and Founding Director of the Orlando E. Costas Lectureship in Latino/a Religion and Theology. He came to Yale as a Presidential Visiting Fellow and Professor in 2016, and then joined the full-time faculty in his current position in 2017.
Valentin’s teaching and research interests are in contemporary theology and culture; U.S. Latino/a religion and theology; Christianity in Latin America; liberation theology; and constructive theology. An interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary scholar through and through, his work spans across and draws from such fields and frameworks as the history of religion, Puerto Rican studies, Latino/a studies, social and political theory, cultural studies, critical race theory, and the discourse of decolonization.
He is the author of the award winning Mapping Public Theology: Beyond Culture, Identity, and Difference (winner of the Hispanic Theological Initiative’s 2003 Latino/a Book of the Year Award), and of Theological Cartographies: Mapping the Encounter with God, Humanity, and Christ (2015). He is also editor of New Horizons in Hispanic/Latino(a) Theology (2003); In Our Own Voices: Latino/a Renditions of Theology (2010); and Looking Forward with Hope: Reflections on The Present State and Future of Theological Education (2019). In addition, Valentin is co‐editor of The Ties That Bind: African American and Hispanic American/Latino(a) Theologies in Dialogue (2001) and Creating Ourselves: African Americans and Hispanic Americans On Popular Culture and Religious Expression (2009). His current work draws attention to the multidimensional significance of place and explores the influence that places have on our ways of thinking about and of experiencing/interpreting the world.
A leader in his field in many ways for some time now, Valentin is not only a member of but also serves on the executive board of the renowned American Theological Society and is a steering committee member of the acclaimed Constructive Theology Workgroup. He has also served on the steering committee of the American Academy of Religion’s Theology and Religious Reflection Section (2014-2018) and Liberation Theologies Group (2013-2017). Valentin served as co‐chair of the American Academy of Religion’s Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Group from 2007‐2013. He continues to do work for the Hispanic Theological Initiative Consortium in various leadership capacities, a doctoral-level mentoring and scholarship program he has been involved with since 1999. And he is a frequent faculty member in the Hispanic Summer Program, a graduate studies academic program devoted to the study of U.S. Latino/a, Latin American, and Caribbean religion and theology.