Bruce David Forbes (born March 30, 1948) is an ordained minister in the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

. Born in Michigan, he grew up in

Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census making it the List of cities in South Dakota, sixth most populous city in South Dako ...

. His parents, Ernest Linwood Forbes and Marie Louise Forbes, met in Rochester. Ernie eventually became a hospital administrator at Methodist Hospital in Mitchell. Marie was a mathematics teacher as well as a librarian. Forbes resides in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

and has one son, Matthew Forbes. Bruce Forbes holds a BA in

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

from Morningside College, an MTh from Perkins School of Theology at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

, and a PhD from

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

. His formal academic training is in the history of Christianity, but he has also developed a special interest in the analysis of popular culture. Forbes is a former department chair and professor of religious studies at Morningside College in

. He is the co-editor of two books: ''Religion and Popular Culture in America'' (2000, second edition in 2005, third edition in 2017), co-edited with Jeffrey H. Mahan, and ''Rapture, Revelation and the End Times: An Exploration of the

Left Behind Series ''Left Behind'' is a multimedia franchise of Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, apocalyptic fiction written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, released by Tyndale House, Tyndale House Publishers from 1995 to 2007. The bestselling premi ...

'' (2004), co-edited with Djeanne Halgren Kilde. He is also the author of two non-fiction books: ''Christmas: A Candid History'' (2007) and ''America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories'' (2015).

References

1948 births Living people Morningside University alumni Southern Methodist University alumni Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Librarians from South Dakota {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub