Fraser's father was Jewish and his mother from a Christian background, and Fraser himself was circumcised according to Jewish tradition. He was educated at a prep school, Hollingbury Court in Sussex, where he was beaten several times a week by the headmaster for minor misdemeanours, and Uppingham, a fee-payingChristian school and became a Christian. Fraser attended Newcastle University, the Church of England's clergy training Ripon College Cuddesdon, near Oxford, and the University of Lancaster where he received his PhD in 1999 for his thesis entitled Holy Nietzsche experiments in redemption. He was ordained as a deacon in 1993 and as a priest in 1994, serving as the curate of All Saints in Streetly in Birmingham from 1993 to 1997. Fraser has been involved in social and political advocacy and according to The Daily Telegraph "would be the first to admit that he is fond of the sound of his own voice". In 2019, he claimed that "all my political energy has been a reaction to Margaret Thatcher. I hated and continue to hate Thatcherism with a passion that remains undimmed". In the 2019 UK General Election, Giles Fraser voted for the Conservative Party. From 2004 to 2013, Fraser had a weekly column in the Church Times. Since 2009, he has been an honorary canon of the Diocese of Sefwi-Wiawso in Ghana. From 1997 to 2006, he was a chaplain and then a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford. He is the author or co-author of several books and is a specialist on the writings of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Fraser has lectured on moral leadership for the British Army at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham. From 2000 to 2009, he was the Team Rector of St Mary's Putney, where he campaigned to raise the profile of the Putney Debates. Fraser was the founder of Inclusive Church and campaigns for lesbian and gay inclusion within the church. He was voted StonewallHero of the Year in 2012. In October 2011, Occupy London based their protest outside St Paul's Cathedral. Fraser said that he was happy for people to "exercise their right to protest peacefully" outside the cathedral. Fraser resigned as he could not sanction any policy of the chapter of St Paul's to use force to remove the protesters. Fraser has said that it was "a huge matter of regret to leave" St Paul's. "But not for one moment have I thought that I did the wrong thing". In 2016 Fraser supported Leave in the EU referendum. Commenting about the EU, he said that 'Personally, I find it amazing that progressives are so keen to offer support to a remote and undemocratic bureaucracy that locks in a commitment to neoliberal economics'.
