Gregory Erickson
Clinical Professor
gte1@nyu.edu
(212) 992-7767
B.M., Music, University of Minnesota, 1994
M.A., 20th century literature, English, CUNY Hunter College, 1996
Ph.D., 20th century literature and theory, English, CUNY Graduate Center, 2004
Gregory Erickson has taught at the Gallatin School since 2004, specializing in courses on modern literature, popular culture, religion, and music including "The Idea of Nothing;" "James Joyce and Interdisciplinary Modernism;" and "Contexts of Musical Meaning." He is the author of The Absence of God in Modernist Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), Christian Heresy, James Joyce, and the Modernist Literary Imagination: Reinventing the Word (Bloomsbury 2022), and Speculative Television and the Doing and Undoing of Religion (Routledge 2023). He is the co-author, with Richard Santana, of Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred (McFarland, 2008; 2016), and the co-editor, with Bernard Schweizer, of the collection Reading Heresy: Religion and Dissent in Literature and Art (De Gruyter 2017). He is also a founding member and former president of the International Society for Heresy Studies. In his spare time, he is a professional trombone player and a member of the Thermophily Brass Trio, Trombonline, the Bronx Opera Orchestra, and Orchestra 914.
Performances, Productions, Exhibitions & Releases
2023
Gregory Erickson: "The Next 100 Years of Practicing Joyce" at the New School Concert: Thermophilly Brass Trio at Gallatin February 7 & Concert: Tromboline: trombone/ violin duo in Paris Oct 3.
Books
2023
Gregory Erickson's Speculative Television and the Doing and Undoing of Religion was published by Routledge.
2023
Gregory Erickson's Christian Heresy, James Joyce, and the Modernist Literary Imagination was published by Bloomsbury Acadmemic.
2016
Gregory Erickson's Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred, 2nd Edition was published by McFarland.
2008
Gregory Erickson and Richard Santana's Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred was published by McFarland.
2007
Gregory Erickson's The Absence of God in Modernist Literature was published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Awards & Honors
2017
Gregory Erickson, Clinical Associate Professor at Gallatin, has been awarded a 2016-2017 Distinguished Teaching Award from NYU, the University’s highest honor for faculty. The Distinguished Teaching Award is presented annually to outstanding full-time NYU faculty members who have contributed significantly to the intellectual life of the University through their teaching.
Erickson joined Gallatin in 2004, teaching courses on modern literature, popular culture, religion, and music. In 2016, Professor Erickson’s teaching was recognized with a 2015-2016 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from Gallatin, an award established to recognize educators for their outstanding teaching; their ability to inspire students; a pedagogical approach that is creative and rigorous; expert advising and mentoring skills; and contributions to their field. He is the author of The Absence of God in Modernist Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and the coauthor, with Richard Santana, of Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred (McFarland, 2008).
In addition to Erickson, the following five professors were also recognized: Elena P. Cunningham, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, College of Dentistry; Benard P. Dreyer, Professor, Director of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Tisch Hospital; Director of Pediatrics, Bellevue Hospital Center, NYU School of Medicine; John J. Gershman, Clinical Professor of Public Service, Co-Director of Capstone Program, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; John Halpin, Professor of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Science; and Heidi E. White, Clinical Professor of Humanities, Liberal Studies.
Teaching and Research Interests
20th-century American and European literature; James Joyce; religion and literature; 20th-century music; music and literature; postmodernism; cultural studies; television studies
Recent News
AWARDS AND HONORS
Professor Gregory Erickson was awarded a 2019 John Bratzel Grant from the Popular Culture Association; Conference on Christianity and Literature Research Grant; and a University of Buffalo Humanities Institute James Joyce Fellowship.
Erickson was awarded a 2017 University Distinguished Teaching Award. The award recognizes faculty who have contributed significantly to the intellectual life of the University through their teaching.
Erickson received a 2015-2016 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award was established in 2009 to recognize educators for their outstanding teaching; their ability to inspire students; a pedagogical approach that is creative and rigorous; expert advising and mentoring skills; and contributions to their field.
PUBLICATIONS
Erickson was co-editor of and contributor to Reading Heresy: Religion and Dissent in Literature and Art (De Gruyter, 2017).
A new revised and updated second edition of Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred, which Erickson wrote with Richard W. Santana, has been released by McFarland.
Erickson contributed “James Joyce’s Ulysses and the Medieval Eucharist: Fragmented Narratives of Doubt and Creation” to Devotional Interaction in Medieval England and Its Afterlives (Brill, 2018).
CONFERENCES AND TALKS
Professor Erickson presented the paper “Alternate Reformations: Finnegans Wake and Religious Iconoclasm” at the International James Joyce Symposium, which was held in London, UK, in June 2016.
Erickson presented the paper “Questioning Body and Blood in True Blood and The Leftovers: HBO and the Heretical Imperative” the 2016 International Society of Heresy Studies conference, which was held in New York, New York, in June 2016.
Erickson presented the paper “New Paradigms of Academic Writing: Fan/Critic/Student/Academic” at the Fan Studies Network conference, which was held in Norwich, UK, in June 2016.
Erickson presented “‘The Time Lord’s Body is a Miracle’: Exploring Religious Spaces in Doctor Who” at the Popular Culture Association Conference, which was held in Seattle, Washington, in March 2016.
PERFORMANCES
Professor Erickson played in a contemporary music concert with the Infuse Ensemble: Espace des arts sans frontiers in Paris, France, in June 2016.
Courses
2023 Spring
Television and Participatory Fan Culture
2023 Fall
Television and Participatory Fan Culture
First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar: The Idea of Nothing
2022 Spring
Proseminar: Traditions of Interpretation
2021 Spring
First-Year Research Seminar: Time Travel: Science, Fiction, and the Western Imagination
2021 Fall
First-Year Interdisciplinary Seminar: The Idea of Nothing
2020 Spring
