Rev. Benjamin Thomas, Th.D.

As a lifelong learner, Father Benjamin delights in serving a community that is open to questions. His COVID project was earning an Executive MBA (2022) from the Carlson School at University of Minnesota. He also holds an M.Div. (2007) and Th.D. (2011) from the General Theological Seminary in New York as well as an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion from the University of Colorado-Boulder (2000); his undergraduate degrees, a B.A. in Letters and a B.S. in Chemistry (1997), were completed at the University of Oklahoma. His doctoral dissertation, An Anglican Hermeneutic of the Transfiguration (2013) was published by Peter-Lang as the first volume in “Studies in Anglican and Episcopal Theology.” His other publications include journal articles on patristic and early medieval theology, church history, and sermons. 

He served parishes in New York and Kansas before moving to Minnesota to be nearer to his wife Holly’s family. He was a bivocational priest working in non-profit leadership for a decade before returning to full-time ministry at Ascension. Fr. Thomas grew up a lot of places, but mostly Oklahoma. Fr. Benjamin and Holly have four high school/college-aged children as well as a French Brittany spaniel. He is an avid (but rather slow) runner and is learning to play ukulele.