The mission of Patrick Henry College was to attract and cultivate

Hear, O seeker of truth, and attend to the words of Nina Easton, who wrote of a vision burning with conviction: “The mission of Patrick Henry College was to attract and cultivate academic stars from the ranks of home-schooled evangelicals, then send them off on graduation day to ‘shape the culture and take back the nation,’ in the words of a common home-schooling rallying cry.” Beneath this declaration lies a fire older than the college itself — the timeless struggle of belief and intellect, of faith seeking dominion in the halls of reason, of spirit striving to reclaim a world it fears has lost its soul.

The meaning of this quote is not confined to one school or one faith. It speaks to a universal yearning — the desire to mold the future, to restore what one perceives as the lost order of things. Patrick Henry College, named for a man whose cry of “Give me liberty or give me death” echoed through the birth of a nation, sought to forge a generation of warriors of the mind. These young scholars, reared in the sheltered gardens of home schooling, were to step forth into the storm of the world and remake it in accordance with the values that shaped them. This is no small ambition; it is the same flame that drove prophets to speak against kings, and reformers to rebuild the crumbling temples of their age.

The origin of this mission lies deep within the American spirit itself — a spirit both devout and defiant, forever striving to unite faith and freedom. The founders of this college believed that culture, once the sacred soil of faith, had grown barren with secularism and doubt. Their rallying cry, to “take back the nation,” was a call not merely to political power but to moral restoration. To them, education was not neutral; it was a weapon, a forge in which the mind could be tempered into the instrument of divine will.

Yet history reminds us that every movement born of passion carries both light and shadow. Consider the story of Savonarola, the fiery preacher of Renaissance Florence. Like the students of Patrick Henry College, he sought to “take back” his city from corruption, to restore its purity through divine law. For a time, he succeeded — the powerful trembled, the wicked fled, and Florence seemed reborn. But zeal, unchecked by humility, turns swiftly to tyranny. The same fire that purifies can consume, and soon Savonarola met his end in the flames of his own making. So too must those who seek to shape culture remember that power, even holy power, must be wielded with wisdom, or it shall devour its bearer.

Still, the dream itself — to cultivate academic stars, to unite intellect with conviction — is noble. For what good is knowledge without purpose? What worth has wisdom if it does not illuminate the path of righteousness? The great civilizations of the past — Greece, Rome, Jerusalem — all rose and fell on the harmony or discord between their faith and reason. When they walked together, mankind ascended; when they warred, empires crumbled. Thus, the mission of Patrick Henry College is a reflection of that eternal balance — an effort to harmonize belief with brilliance, devotion with discourse.

The lesson, O reader, is this: to shape culture, one must first shape the self. Before taking back a nation, take back your own heart from apathy, from pride, from the noise of the world. Do not mistake zeal for truth, nor conviction for wisdom. True change begins not with conquest, but with character — with learning that enlightens rather than enslaves. For no nation is ever truly taken back by force; it is transformed by example, by compassion, by the quiet strength of those who live their ideals rather than impose them.

So walk forth, children of thought and faith. Study deeply, act justly, love truth more than victory. Whether you come from the cloister of home or the chaos of the city, your mission remains the same — to carry light into darkness, not by domination, but by illumination. And should you seek to shape the culture, do so not as conquerors, but as creators — remembering always that nations are not won by might, but redeemed by understanding, humility, and the courage to build rather than burn.