Bruce Rose

I grew up in Massachusetts in a devout Roman Catholic family. At ten years of age, I was saved through the influence of a local Christian school. My introduction to the Gospel though a Christian school and my experiences as a college student at Bob Jones University have given me a deep love for Christian education. I studied English and History at BJU (1989) and then continued at BJU as a graduate assistant in the English Department, teaching freshman English classes and working toward an MEd. in Teaching English (1991). I completed a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999.  My specialty was eighteenth-century British literature with a minor in American literature. 

My experiences at UNC prepared me for a return to ministry at BJU with my wife in 1996. As I taught freshman composition at UNC, I missed the opportunity I enjoyed at BJU to mentor Christian students. As I interacted with professors and fellow graduate students, I missed the common set of values that had united me with my professors and peers at BJU. When I was contacted about the possibility of returning to BJU to teach English, I knew this ministry suited God’s preparation in my life and the burden He had given me. My dissertation discussed the literary influences on John Wesley’s Journal.  This topic, coupled with my teaching experience at UNC, has helped prepare me for the major emphases of my teaching at BJU: seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British literature (and especially the English novel) and freshman composition. I have also prepared the online versions of En 102 (Composition & Rhetoric) and En 202 (British Literature to 1688).

In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I am also the chairman of the Division of English Language and Literature at BJU. I have had the opportunity to serve as a deacon and ministry group leader at Community Baptist Church in Greer, South Carolina. My wife and I also serve on the Family Missionary Outreach committee at our church.  At home when I’m not reading for pleasure, I enjoy playing baseball and soccer and gardening with my two boys.