Christian Benne attended the Thomasschule (thomasschule.de) and, after National Service, studied literature and various languages as well as philosophy, history and law at the Universities of Leipzig, Edinburgh, and Berlin (Humboldt University and Freie Universität). He holds an M.A. in German and English from the Humboldt Universität, a Dr. phil. (summa cum laude) in Comparative Literature from the Peter Szondi-Institute at the Freie Universität in Berlin, and a dr. phil. (Danish habilitation) from Copenhagen University. He has worked as a freelance journalist for various newspapers as well as a full time journalist for the BBC. He teaches or has taught German and comparative literature, intellectual history and philosophy, cultural history, and language skills. He worked as a lecturer for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and was tenured there as Associate Professor in German literature in 2005. He was appointed head of a research group on literary aesthetics and promoted to full professor of European literature in 2014. He accepted a position as professor of European literature and intellectual history at Copenhagen University in 2015. He has been a visiting scholar or guest professor at Stanford, Chicago University, Heidelberg University and Meiji University (Tokyo) and has presented talks and papers at numerous institutions worldwide. In 2014/15 he was a Fellow at the Morphomata Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Cologne. He has served on numerous committees and academic functions (e.g. as Head of Department 2007-2013). He regularly works as a reviewer and peer reviewer for a number of leading journals and publishing houses, for ERC grants and for the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). He was co-editor of Text & Kontext (2004-2007) and has been a co-editor of Orbis Litterarum since 2007. From 2018, he also co-edits the journal Athenäum. His research has been awarded various prizes and grants (e.g. DAAD, Fyens Stiftstidende, The Danish Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, The Carlsberg Foundation, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science). He is currently the deputy director of the Nietzsche Foundation, a board member of the Friedrich Schlegel Gesellschaft and a board member of various journals and prize committees. Between 2007 and 2015 he served as Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany. He continues to be active in the academic and cultural exchange between Germany, Europe and the Nordic countries in close cooperation with e.g. the German Embassy in Copenhagen.

„Man ist nicht umsonst Philologe gewesen, man ist es vielleicht noch“ – Nietzsches Bekenntnisse zur Philologie sind zahlreich. Auf der Grundlage von Quellenstudien beschreibt die Abhandlung Nietzsches tiefe Prägung durch die historisch-kritische Methode der Bonner Schule. Um Philosoph zu werden, musste er sich nicht, wie bisher angenommen, von der Philologie lösen, sondern sprach ihr gerade im Spätwerk eine zentrale Rolle zu. Diese Einsicht führt zur Neubestimmung von Begriffen wie Text, Genealogie, Interpretation, Perspektivismus und zur Zurückweisung herrschender Auffassungen der Wissenschaftsgeschichte, der Hermeneutik und des Dekonstruktivismus. Die Studie endet mit einem von Nietzsche ausgehenden, historisch begründeten Plädoyer für die skeptisch-philologische Literaturwissenschaft.