This book of essays, published in 1995, describes the idealism that shaped Fresno Pacific College during its first fifty years, particularly during its liberal arts phase since 1960.

"Amidst the growth and even fragmentation that accompanies most stories of institutional development is the attempt to maintain a synoptic vision. The tension in maintaining a distinctive core while serving ever more publics is not uncommon to Christian colleges. This quest for the distinctive and appropriate ideational core not only defines institutional mission but also energizes a school. While debates about core institutional ideas may seem arcane and even superfluous to the supporters and friends of a college, and sometimes even to trustees, they are necessary and critical for institutional survival. In fact, those Christian colleges that are most successful are probably those that have worked hardest at defining such an ideational core and then worked at juxtaposing and balancing it with the needs of the world around them. These essays are part of the ongoing discussion about that balancing act."

~Paul Toews, from the Introduction, xiii