Biography and expertise
Dr. Reeves received his Ph.D. in 2016 from UCLA, where he studied eighteenth-century and Romantic British literature. His research interests include the early novel, satire, and secularization. His work has appeared in multiple outlets, including Eighteenth-Century Studies, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, the Keats-Shelley Journal, and others. His first book, Godless Fictions in the Eighteenth Century: A Literary History of Atheism, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
Education
Doctorate Degree
PhD in English
Univ of California-Los Angeles, 2016
Master's Degree
MA in English
Univ of California-Los Angeles, 2014
Master's Degree
MST in English
University of Oxford, 2009
Bachelor's Degree
BA in English
Texas Tech University, 2008
Featured scholarly/creative works
- Reeves, J. B. (2025). “Decide This Doubt for Me”: William Cowper’s Olney Hymns (1779). Religions, 16(3).
- Reeves, J. B. (2020). Antislavery Literature and the Decline of Hell. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 53, 571–587.
- Reeves, J. B. (2020). Godless Fictions in the Eighteenth Century: A Literary History of Atheism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Reeves, J. B. (2016). Unbelief and Sympathy in Shelley and Hogg’s Letters to Ralph Wedgwood. Keats-Shelley Journal, 65, 41–52.
- Reeves, J. B. (2015). Untimely Old Age and Deformity in Sarah Scott’s Millenium Hall. Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 27(2), 229–256.
Featured awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: Achievement Award for Excellence in Service, Texas State University, College of Liberal Arts. June 23, 2025
- Award / Honor Nominee: 2021 AAR Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, Textual Studies, American Academy of Religion. 2021
- Award / Honor Recipient: Achievement Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activity, Texas State University, College of Liberal Arts. August 3, 2021
- Award / Honor Recipient: English Department International Travel Award, University of California, Los Angeles. December 2015
- Award / Honor Recipient: Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies Travel Award, University of California, Los Angeles. December 2015
Featured service activities
- Member
Communications and Publicity Committee
- Graduate Advisor
Texas State English Department
- Other
Texas State University Department of English
- Chair
A.I. and Honor Code Task Force
- Other
Gamers at Texas State
- Member
Children's Literature Hiring Committee