Joseph Bentz - Azusa Pacific University

Joseph Bentz, Ph.D.

Professor

Phone: (626) 815-6000, Ext. 3485
Email: jbentz@apu.edu

Joseph Bentz, Ph.D., teaches courses in American literature and writing. He is the author of four novels: Song of Fire, A Son Comes Home, Cradle of Dreams, and At Close of Day. His novel A Son Comes Home won the Silver Angel Award, was selected for Guideposts Book Club, and chosen as one of the Top Ten Christian Novels of the Year by Booklist magazine. Bentz's scholarly interests include the American novelist Thomas Wolfe. Bentz serves as the articles editor for The Thomas Wolfe Review, and is also a member of the board of directors of The Thomas Wolfe Society. In 2003 Bentz received the Undergraduate Faculty Outstanding Scholarship Award from Azusa Pacific University.

Education

Ph.D. - 20th century American literature, Purdue University, 1991
M.A. - British and American literature, Purdue University, 1985
B.A. - English Education, Olivet Nazarene University, Kankakee, Illinois, 1983
Journalism Major, Vincennes University, Indiana, 1979-80

Expertise

American literature

Fiction

Freelance nonfiction

Thomas Wolfe

Courses Taught

ENGL 110 – Freshman Writing Seminar
ENGL 111 – Introduction to Literature
ENGL 354 – American Literature since 1865
ENGL 361 – Freelance Magazine Article Writing
ENGL 407 – Composition: Theory and Practice
ENGL 410 – American Novel
ENGL 488 – Significant Authors

Professional/Scholarly Presentations

Publications
At Close of Day. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2003.

Cradle of Dreams. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 2001.

"The Influence of Modernist Structure in the Short Fiction of Thomas Wolfe." Studies in Short Fiction 31.2 (Spring 1994).

"Wolfe and the Wastelanders: T. S. Eliot’s Influence on The Hound of Darkness." The Thomas Wolfe Review 18.2 (Fall 1994). 1-5.

Professional Involvement and Accomplishments

Undergraduate Faculty Outstanding Scholarship Award, Azusa Pacific University, 2003.

2000 Silver Angel Award for the novel, A Son Comes Home

A Son Comes Home named one of the Top Ten Christian Novels of 1999 by Booklist magazine.

Provost Award, Azusa Pacific University, 1998

Zelda Gitlin Literary Prize, 1995

Special Interests and Activities

American literature
Freelance nonfiction
Fiction