The book, “Becoming Grace: Seventy-Five Years on the Landscape of Christian Higher Education,” available now from Brethren Missionary Herald, features various contributors who write about Grace College’s history.

“Becoming Grace surpasses the scope and purpose of most institutional histories,” writes Brethren historian Jeff Bach. He notes in the foreword that co-editors Dr. Jared Burkholder and Dr. Mark Norris and their contributors Dr. Jim Swanson, Dr. Christy Hill, Carlos Tellez, Dr. Robert Clouse, Dr. Terry White, Dr. Tiberius Rata, Dr. Paulette Sauders, Frank Benyousky, and Kim Reiff offer a clear and balanced account of Grace College and Theological Seminary from its origins in Akron, Ohio, through its expansion at Winona Lake, and the difficulties of a later denominational division.

Norris is dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Grace College, where he serves as professor of European and World History and advises pre-law and social studies education students. He and his wife, Marla, have three children and live in Warsaw.

Burkholder is chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind., where he also serves as associate professor of American and World History and specializes in American religious history. He and his wife, Connie, are originally from Pennsylvania and have three children. Follow Dr. Burkholder on Twitter at @jsburkholder. Burkholder also blogs at The Pietist Schoolman.

The story is carefully set in the context of conflicts between professors and their advocates, the deeper Brethren framework behind those events, and the continued religious developments among the Grace Brethren. Add in broader cultural changes and developments within conservative Christianity in the U.S. in the early 20th century and readers will find the college and seminary illuminated against the backdrop of the larger landscape of Christian higher education in America.

Houghton College president, Shirley Mullen, in one of the forewords to the book, writes:

“[Becoming Grace] is the story of one relatively small academic institution, Grace College and Theological Seminary, inspired by the occasion of its 75th anniversary…We see how the larger Grace history is shaped by stories within its own story—the story of global engagement, of curricular transformation, of expanded co-curricular activity, and of increasing partnership with the surrounding community.

“… For a community with roots in the Anabaptist tradition, this conscious effort to link its future to the surrounding world shows both remarkable creativity and courage.”

To order a copy of Becoming Grace, visit http://bmhbooks.com/shop/becoming-grace-seventy-five-years-on-the-landscape-of-christian-higher-education-in-america/#tab-description.

Grace College is an evangelical Christian community of higher education that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and applies biblical values in strengthening character, sharpening competence, and preparing for service. Grace College also offers flexible online graduate degrees, on-campus and online degree completion programs, and highly affordable, easily accessible degree programs in Detroit, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. The 180-acre main campus is located in the historic resort town of Winona Lake.