ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Dr. Brandon Grafius grew up in East Lansing, Michigan and earned a BA in English from Michigan State University. He lived in California for six years, during which time he earned an MA in English from the University of California-Davis and worked as a freelance film reviewer. 

 

After moving back to Michigan, he completed the Master of Divinity program at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in 2010.  He completed his Ph.D. at Chicago Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Bible program, writing his dissertation on Numbers 25 and the problem of divinely sanctioned violence through the lens of contemporary horror theory.

 

His dissertation was published by Lexington Books/Fortress Academic in 2018.  His second monograph, Reading the Bible with Horror (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019) made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award in nonfiction, and has been nominated for the 2021 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. ​

 

He began teaching as an adjunct professor at ETS in 2010, and has taught courses in Hebrew, theory, hermeneutics, and the books of Jeremiah, Job, Isaiah, the Psalms, and Daniel. He was promoted to the position of Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies in 2016.

 

Dr. Grafius recently appeared on an episode of the Podcast “Imaginary Worlds”. The topic of the episode was cursed films, and he provided a perspective from the world of religion.

 

https://www.imaginaryworldspodcast.org

 

He also had an article published in the book, The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaptation.  His essay is called, “’They Never Believe Me:’ Discourses of Belief in Hill House and #MeToo.”

 

Currently, he lives in Mason with his wife and two children.