BeDuhn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religious studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana, an M.T.S. in New Testament and Christian Origins from Harvard Divinity School, and a Doctor of Philosophy in the Comparative Study of Religions from Indiana University, Bloomington.
He first gained brief national attention at the age of 18 when remarks he made in a speech to the high school graduating class of Rock Island, Illinois, sharply critical of oppressive attitudes towards youth by older generations of Americans, were widely reported in the American press His evident interest in the role religions play in forming and organizing the individual self can be seen in his multi-volume study of Augustine of Hippo. In 2013 he published The First New Testament, which offers a (partial) reconstruction of the first Christian canon of scripture, created in the 2nd century Civil Engineer by the Christian leader Marcion.
He was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2004.
Books authored 2000 The Manichaean Body in Discipline and Ritual. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
2003 Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament. Lanham: University Press of America.
2010 Augustine's Manichaean Dilemma, 1: Conversion and Apostasy, 373-388 C.E. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
2013 Augustine's Manichaean Dilemma, 2: Making a Catholic Self, 388-401 C.E. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
2013 The First New Testament: Marcion's Scriptural Canon.
Salem: Polebridge.
Books edited 1997 with Paul Mirecki: Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
2001 with Paul Mirecki: The Light and the Darkness: Studies in Manichaeism and its World. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
2007 with Paul Mirecki: Frontiers of Faith: The Christian-Manichaean Encounter in the Acts of Archelaus.
Leiden: E. J. Brill.
2009 New Light on Manichaeism: Papers from the 6th International Meeting of the IAMS. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
He defended his remarks in subsequent radio and television appearances by pointing to the historical contribution of youth to social idealism and cultural innovation.
