BJU Press
BJU Press | |
---|---|
Website | http://www.bjupress.com/page/Home |
Mission statement | Christ-centered resources for education, edification, & evangelism. |
Location | Greenville, SC |
Owner | Bob Jones University |
Founder | Bob Jones University |
Established | 1973 |
BJU Press (formerly Bob Jones University Press), founded in 1973, publishes textbooks for the Christian school and home school movements as well as trade and children's books.
History
Although Bob Jones University published its first trade book, A History of Fundamentalism in America by George W. Dollar, in 1973, BJU Press originated in the need for textbooks in the burgeoning Christian school movement. Walter Fremont, Dean of the School of Education, was an "enthusiastic supporter," and much of the early academic direction of the Press was provided by the University's provost, Philip D. Smith.[1] The Press also published the University's magazine, Faith for the Family from 1973 until publication was discontinued in 1986.
The first textbook published by BJU Press was George Mulfinger and Emmet Williams, Physical Science for Christian Schools in 1974. Initially the Press had planned to publish only a few texts in areas where philosophical disagreement with secular texts was substantial, but shortly the Press developed a full range of K-12 texts and materials. An early decision was that the BJU Press would not simply repackage secular texts, as its competitors had done, but would create new books from a Christian viewpoint.[2]
As the home school movement began to grow in the 1980s, the Press decided to accommodate to the difficulties of selling small quantities of its publications to home school families. This marketing strategy proved so successful that by 1988, the BJU Press was the largest textbook supplier to home school families in the nation.[3] Together with A Beka Book, BJU "dominates the Christian school and home market." It also provides testing, record-keeping and consulting services.[4]
Current status and divisions
BJU Press is the largest book publisher in South Carolina, and more than a million pre-college students around the world use BJU textbooks.[5] The Press also publishes trade books for adults and biographies and fiction for children and young adults, including wholesome books with no specific Christian references.[6] The imprints of BJU Press include JourneyForth Books and ShowForth Videos. In 2006 the Press had approximately 2,500 titles in print[7]
BJU Press "controls every aspect of publication with in-house authors, editors, compositors, computer and board artists, photo editors, page designers and its own presses," and many of the one hundred press authors worked for BJU Press for more than twenty years.[8] In 2009, the chief publication officer, William Apelian, said, "The cornerstone of our philosophy is a Christian world view, call it Bible integration. That's why we have control of the entire process."[9]
Biblical Integration
BJU Press offers a full spectrum of K-12 educational materials for private schools and home schooling environments. These curricula cover core content areas including reading, math, science, foreign language, and social studies (known by BJU Press as “Heritage Studies”[10]). Basing each of these curricula on Biblical Inerrancy, BJU Press incorporates The Bible into its textbooks through a technique they call Biblical Integration. Defined as “Christian Worldview Shaping,”[11] the technique of Biblical Integration is structured around the Biblical story of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. These three events are described as the “lenses through which to look at education” so that Christian faith and education are seamlessly incorporated, “govern[ing] the educational experience".[12]
The tenet of Creation bases itself in the first chapter of Genesis, in which humans were created in God's own image; according to BJU Press, one of the most important aspects of God's image in humans is the ability to reason. Consequently, a Christian education will encourage students' critical thinking in an emulation of God, analyzing, evaluating, and creating—all of this “to declare God's glory by being just like him, not just in behavior, but also in the life of the mind”.[13] Also implicit in Creation is the Dominion Mandate decreed by Genesis 1:28: “...God said unto them, Be Fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”.[14] The Dominion Mandate “becomes the key verse justifying all the academics;” Christians are to use their dominance of the Earth to benefit other humans, which requires not only an understanding of mathematics and the sciences, but also of poetry and the arts to glorify the beauty of God's creation.[15]
Humans' Fall from Grace hindered the ability to reason and understand God's world. Citing Jeremiah 17:9 and I Corinthians 2:14, BJU Press maintains that human reason became broken after Adam and Eve broke the original covenant with God.[16] To redeem human reason, Christians must place their faith in the lord, as described in Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”.[17] BJU Press provides an interpretation of this verse: “Here we learn that proper affection (“fear”) for God is the key to proper cognition (“knowledge”) regarding His world”.[18]
Knowledge of God's world is contingent upon the Redemption of humans through a belief in Christ as King; this redemption not only saves the body and soul, but the mind as well. With this redeemed mind, humans live out the dominion mandate by becoming educated, loving their neighbors as they love themselves, and evangelizing the word of God to others.[19]
The technique of Biblical Integration has three stages. The first is using the Bible as a means of explanation for subject matter, using biblical analogy or examples from scripture to clarify lessons. Second, Biblical Integration encourages students to apply their learning to situations outside the classroom, serving as a model of ethics and behavior. The final level is the paramount of Biblical Integration, and it requires that teachers re-shape students' ideological frames to fit with a literal interpretation of the Bible: “Remembering the fallenness of the human mind, the teacher should call into question the secular assumptions of each subject and then encourage the student to rebuild the discipline from biblical presuppositions”.[20]
Criticism
In August 2008, the Association of Christian Schools International filed suit against the University of California (Association of Christian Schools International et al. v. Roman Stearns et al.) for refusing to grant high school credits for courses taken using certain BJU Press texts. U. S. District Court judge S. James Otero accepted the argument of two University of California professors that the text United States History for Christian Schools was inadequate because it claimed that the Bible was "the unerring source for analysis of historical events," attributed "historical events to divine providence rather than analyzing human action," and provided "inadequate treatment of several major ethnic groups, women and non-Christian religious groups." The judge also ruled that the book did not "encourage critical thinking skills and failed to cover 'major topics, themes and components' of U.S. history."[21]
In 2012, The Herald of Glasgow said that BJU Press textbooks had praised aspects of the Ku Klux Klan for fighting against immorality and using the symbol of the cross, claimed dinosaurs were fire-breathing dragons, and that homosexuality is a learned behavior.[22] Recently, some evangelical homeschoolers have turned away from the BJU Press, seeking Christian books that accept evolution.[23]
References
- ↑ Daniel L. Turner, Standing Without Apology: The History of Bob Jones University (Greenville, S.C.: Bob Jones University Press, 1997), 283, 304. ISBN 0-89084-930-7.
- ↑ Turner, 265, 437n. 18.
- ↑ Deb Richardson-Moore, "BJU Press Has Quietly Risen to Top in Homeschool Publications," Greenville News, 26 May 1996.
- ↑ Dick Hughes, "Books-a-Millions: Bob Jones makes a business of textbooks," Greenville Journal, December 11, 2009, 27.
- ↑ Jenny Moore, "Greenville Benefits from BJU in Economic, Social Areas,"Greenville News, 20 September 2006, 9A.
- ↑ Turner, 265.
- ↑ Literary Market Place, 2006, 38.
- ↑ Greenville Journal, December 11, 2009, 27.
- ↑ Greenville Journal, December 11, 2009, 27.
- ↑ “Christian Heritage Curriculum | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/info/heritage/
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ Genesis 1:28 KJV, Nov. 11, 2013, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A28&version=KJV
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ "Proverbs 1:7 KJV", Nov. 11 2013, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A7&version=KJV
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ “Biblical Integration | About BJU Press | BJU Press”, Nov. 11 2013, http://www.bjupress.com/about/biblical-integration.php
- ↑ "Association of Christian Schools International et al. v. Roman Stearns et al. Decision". University of California. August 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-24.. The three texts were American Government for Christian Schools (1989), Biology for Christian Schools (1991), and United States History for Christian Schools (2001).
- ↑ "How American fundamentalist schools are using Nessie to disprove evolution". The Herald. 24 June 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
- ↑ "Old Earth, Young Minds: Evangelical Homeschoolers Embrace Evolution". The Atlantic. March 8, 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-14.