Revd Dr Benno van den Toren

Dean of Faculty & Tutor in Doctrine

MA (Utrecht), MDiv (Utrecht), PhD (Kampen)

Benno is from the Netherlands. He studied theology in Utrecht, Oxford and Kampen where he did his doctoral research on apologetics, Karl Barth, and postmodernism. After working as a pastoral assistant and with the Dutch evangelical student movement, he moved with his family to French-speaking Africa, where he taught systematic theology for eight years at the Bangui Evangelical School of Theology. During those years he published in Dutch, English, and French, mainly on the nature of Christian doctrine and ethics in a multicultural world. He is married to Berdine and they have three teenage sons.

Benno has many research interests, among those the possibility of cross-cultural and interreligious apologetic dialogue, the theology of religions and the theological understanding of multiculturalism.

“I have heard many people talk about the importance of integrating academic, practical and spiritual formation in the training of people for church-based ministry. Yet, in practice this is really hard to achieve. What impresses me about Wycliffe Hall is that this is not just a beautiful ideal, but that it receives the sustained attention of the staff. And you can see students growing towards being academically critical and spiritually mature disciples of Christ. It is a real privilege to be part of this.”