John Frymire received his Ph.D. in History in the Program of Late Medieval & Reformation Studies under the supervision of Heiko Oberman (2001). At Arizona he also studied medieval and early modern European history with Alan Bernstein, Donald Weinstein, Hermann Rebel, and Susan Karant-Nunn. Frymire also spent seven years as a student and researcher in Europe, primarily at the University of Tübingen, where he studied history, theology, and languages. For several years in Tübingen he was an Assistant to Peter Godman in the Division for Medieval and Renaissance Latin in the German Language and Literature Department. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a fellow at the Institut für europäische Geschichte (Mainz), and lived and conducted research in Germany, Italy, and Austria.

Professor Frymire teaches courses in late medieval, renaissance, and reformation Europe (ca. 1350-1700) including an introductory survey of the era (Hist 1570), advanced courses on the Renaissance (Hist 4630/7630), Reformation (Hist 3640), and European Witchcraft (Hist 4645/7645), as well as undergraduate and graduate seminars pertaining to specific issues in early modern European history. His regularly taught undergraduate seminars include the Sophomore Seminar (Natural Disasters in Pre-Modern Europe, Hist 2950W) as well as a senior Capstone Seminar (Witchcraft and Deviance in Pre-Modern Europe, Hist 4971W). Frymire also teaches the first half of the department's Western Civilization survey, including the weekly discussion section for students enrolled in the Honors College (Hist 1500/1500H). On many occasions he has also taught the department's Historiography class for incoming graduate students (Hist 8480). Professor Frymire also enjoys teaching the Humanities Sequence for the Honors College, and has in fact taught all four of them: Ancient, Medieval & Renaissance, Early Modern, and Modern (GN HON 2011H, 2012H, 2013H, and 2014H).

Frymire’s research focuses on Germany and Italy during the eras of Reformation and Counter-Reformation. He is particularly interested in Martin Luther and the Catholic response to Protestantism as recorded in sermons and pastoral literature. Frymire's last monograph appeared as The Primacy of the Postils, a study of the standard Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist sermon collections used in Germany from 1520 to 1620. He is now completing Catholic Preaching in the Wake of Luther: Friedrich Nausea in the Mainz Cathedral Pulpit, 1526-1534, a study of over 500 sermons preached and printed in Mainz. It is the first detailed study of the early Catholic pulpit response to the Reformation in any language. Recent shorter publications include essays on Luther's sermons and postils for The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion as well as a piece on Catholic preaching and ritual for the journal Reformation (see above, Recent Publications).