[4][5] He has stated that he is agnostic and that his parents raised him in a secular Jewish household, wholly disconnected from the Calvinism in which he would come to specialize.

[9][10] While conducting his dissertation research in France, Benedict also followed the seminar of Denis Richet at what was then the VIe Section of the École Pratique des Hautes Études.

[17] He held the title of professeur ordinaire at the University of Geneva's Institute for Reformation History for nine years prior to his retirement.

[19] Benedict taught at Brown University for 26 years, where he was the Willard Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of Religious Studies.

[20] Several late medieval and early modern historians have credited him with supervising their dissertations, including Michael Breen,[21] Larissa Taylor,[22] and Liam Brockey.