Harold V. Bennett is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was ordained in 1987 by Bishop L.B. Davenport in the Greater North Carolina Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ.
Dr. Bennett received a Doctorate of Philosophy and a Master of Arts degree in Religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He has a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Georgia State University; a Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia; and Bachelor of Science degree from the North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Dr. Bennett has published books, commentaries, and several articles that explore issues in Biblical Exegesis and Hermeneutics, Religious Ethics, and Moral Philosophy. These publications include but are not limited to the following: Injustice Made Legal, (Eerdmans Publishing Company); 'Triennial Tithes and the Underdog: A Revisionist Reading of Deut 14:22-29 and 26:12-15." This article appears in Yet with A Steady Beat (Scholars’ Press); “Justice” which appears in the New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon Press); an article on Deuteronomy, which appears in the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity (Cambridge University Press); Deuteronomy, which appears in The Africana Bible Commentary; "Deuteronomy" in the Fortress Commentary on the Pentateuch (Fortress Press). His most recent publication is “The Bible and Africentric Pentecostal Moral Decision-Making” (Journal of the Interdenominational Theological Center Volume 44, Fall 2016/Spring 2017).
He has presented papers on Africentric Biblical Hermeneutics during the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature and served as the Program Chair for the section on Biblical Theology in the International Society of Biblical Literature. Dr. Bennett has served as a Co-Coordinator of the Benjamin E. Mays Institute at Morehouse College and as a Lecturer in the Black Women and Society Institute at the Interdenominational Theological Center.
Dr. Bennett has served the body of Christ in general and the Church of God in Christ in particular in a host of professional positions. He has served as a supply pastor for the United Methodist Church. He served as the Senior Content Editor of the Sunday School Curriculum and as a writer of the Y.P.W.W. Topics for the Church of God in Christ. He too has served as the Secretary for the Central Georgia Jurisdiction Pastors and Elders Council. He is a member of the Standardized Ordination Committee and is a member of the Manual Review Committee of the Church of God in Christ. He is the Ecumenical Officer for the South Central Georgia Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ.
Dr. Bennett has served as a Commentator/Guest on Religion and Social Ethics on National Public Radio and on radio stations in Atlanta. He and his wife, Dr. Valerie Bennett, founded the Pentecost for Life Ministries, and Dr. Harold Bennett is the host of the Pentecost for Life Broadcast, an Africentric, Pentecostal spiritual teaching ministry, which is available through Social Media (pentecost4life.com) and airs on radio, Love 860 WAEC 860 AM, on Wednesdays from 2:30-3 PM EST. He too is the host of The GIST of the Matter with Dr. Bennett, an interactive radio talk show, which explores provocative issues in social ethics in the Black community from an Afrocentric perspective. The GIST of the Matter with Dr. Bennett airs on Sundays from 6-8pm EST on WAOK 1380 AM in Atlanta, Georgia.