Schaefer received his B.A. in an interdisciplinary religion, literature, and the arts program from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he was also born. Following his undergraduate career, Schaefer received both his master’s and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University. Afterward, he held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Haverford College. From 2014 to 2017, he was a departmental lecturer in science and religion at the University of Oxford. Schaefer is author of "Religious Affects: Animality, Evolution, and Power" (2015). He writes on the relationship between religion and emotion, with special attention to material culture, science, secularism, race, and embodiment.