Esther Brownsmith

Dr. Esther Brownsmith is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Dayton. Her first monograph, Gendered Violence in Biblical Narrative: The Devouring Metaphor, examines the metaphors underlying biblical stories of violence against women. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Unruly Books: Rethinking Ancient and Academic Imaginations of Religious Texts. Her recent academic work explores the book of Esther in the light of fan fiction studies, queer theory, and affect theory, and she is working on a public-facing book tentatively titled Sacred Unhappiness: Reading the Bible with Feminist Killjoys.

Dr. Brownsmith’s research focuses especially on the stories of the Hebrew Bible and the cultural and literary norms that make them so resonant. She lives in Dayton, OH with her spouse, a house full of stuffed animals, and a kitchen full of baking supplies.