The Torrey Honors Institute is a program in the liberal arts and biblical studies for undergraduates at Biola University. Our students are undergraduates outstanding in their academic ability, Christian character, and potential for leadership. Torrey is unique among programs in classical education for several reasons. First, the inclusion of first-rate Christian thinkers in the Protestant tradition, along with extensive study of the Bible, makes Torrey unique in the area of classical education. Writers such as Calvin, Luther, and Wesley are rarely studied in most "great books" programs. Second, Torrey students are some of the most advanced at the university. Third, rather than being a major unto itself, Torrey substitutes for most general education and biblical studies requirements. Torrey students add a specialized major in any area available at Biola University to the solid grounding they have received in the classics. As a result, Torrey combines the best of classical and traditional American college education in an unabashedly Christian context.

The Torrey program's courses fulfill the liberal arts requirements for a four-year degree at Biola in the following areas: Communication, English, Literature, Fine Arts, History, Philosophy, and Behavioral Science. Torrey courses also fulfill the biblical and theological studies requirements (30 units) for a four-year degree at Biola. The 64 units required of Torrey students is five units higher than the number required to fulfill these requirements outside of Torrey, but the extra units can be considered electives and thus count toward graduation. Please note that Torrey students must meet all other academic, social, and spiritual requirements of Biola in order to graduate.

Torrey classes do not have lectures, written exams, or textbooks written by people talking about what other people said. In Torrey you dig directly into the classic works of Western literature and Christianity, unmediated by a lecturer who tells you what to think or by a homogenized survey text. You learn by reading thoroughly and deeply in preparation for class. You learn by discussing the texts with other outstanding students, led by a tutor who asks rather than tells, who prods you to think carefully rather than give you "the answer" (but don't worry; we do have answers).

The Torrey model isn't just about reading the Great Books and discussing them. You are placed in a small group of students from your entering class who will stay with you throughout the program. You write and revise a major essay each semester, thereby learning how to express and defend a position intelligently, Christianly, clearly, and persuasively. One of the many tutors who leads your discussions acts as your mentor, meeting with you regularly to advise you on your coursework and to encourage you in your Christian walk. Torrey is also about interaction outside of the discussion classroom, whether in the form of online dialogue with Torrey faculty and students on BUBBS (Biola University Bulletin Board Service), attending context lectures and retreats arranged by Torrey, or going to the beach with your group. The Torrey Student Handbook provides the basic information needed to understand the Torrey program. The major elements of the program are summarized on the pages linked to below.

Torrey focuses on three features often forgotten in contemporary education:

• The education of the whole soul: the student is taught to love beauty, as well as ideas; doing as well as thinking. Torrey students engage with the worlds of art, commerce, and government. Our goal is to produce citizens for the City of God.
• The centrality of Christ: all secular education and most Christian education has abandoned this truth. Christ must be at the center of the learning experience.
• The Great Conversation applied to contemporary problems: too often "classical" reading programs ignore current issues like naturalism in science. Torrey examines the key issues of our age. We prepare our students to strike where the battle is hottest.