In this book the fullness of the Baptist experience in Christian higher education is explored, charted, and analyzed. Beginning with the establishment in 1756 of the Academy and reaching to the present the author explores the need for Baptists to pursue education and the types of schools they founded. Included are colleges, universities, manual labor schools, literary and theological institutions, theological schools, and bible colleges. Special attention is given to women and higher education and the Black Baptist achievements. Details are provided about what makes a Baptist school Baptist: charters, trustees, presidents, support, church accountability. Chapters at the end of the typological and chronological narratives ponder the meaning of denominational education at present, with suggestions about the future of faith-based institutions and the failure of contemporary literature to attend properly to Baptist idiosyncrasies.

Stetson University was founded in 1883 in historic DeLand, Florida, and has been educating students for over a century. The passionate vision of the town's early promoter Henry Addison DeLand contributed in a large way to the success of the university. DeLand, a New Yorker with a dream, wanted his newly adopted town to be distinctive in rural Central Florida. Since the state had no four-year college, his foresight brought to fruition the excellent educational facility we have today.