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.

The first textbook published by BJU Press was Physical Science for Christian Schools (1974), written by George Mulfinger and Emmet Williams.

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."

"[10] 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.