Pacific Journal Turns 20

Pacific Journal (PJ) has been a part of the Fresno Pacific community for 20 years now. Each year we have published a thematic issue with an unusual mission: a chance for Christian scholars to write about ideas of interest to them without any necessity for overt faith integration. This year’s issue is centered around curiosity and the theme was sparked by a thoughtful Major Honors Banquet address last year by Darren Duerksen, Ph.D., associate professor and program coordinator for intercultural studies and Christian ministries.

The first issue of PJ came about because the faculty had spent time together with Ernest Boyer’s model of the different types of scholarship: discovery, integration, application, and teaching and learning. FPU has also worked over the years on whether there could be a meaningful scholarship of administration, and what it would look like. These concepts have been central to Fresno Pacific’s definitions of scholarship.

Issue themes have ranged broadly, as have interpretations of those themes within each volume. We have not been reticent about being prophetic over the years, addressing everything from the environment to hospitality. We also have used internal connections to develop issues, such as reaching out to a number of our teaching award winners for an issue on pedagogy.

Pacific Journal celebrated the 75th anniversary of FPU (2019) with an issue recounting the history of our university, including many voices about its epochs and ideals. Each issue of PJ includes relevant, original, cover art and the 75th anniversary issue’s cover by Chris Janzen, MFA, assistant professor of art, design and creative innovation, was a powerful testament to our community! We will try to arrange something festive this fall for the twentieth anniversary of PJ during the eightieth of FPU.

Rod Janzen, Ed.D., emeritus professor of history, has been the editor of PJ for its entire history. We have often published significant works by FPU community members, but we have also had important work from outside the institution—including an unpublished William Saroyan screen treatment! Each issue also includes timely book reviews You may come by the HUB (Sattler 112) for copies, or see all but the latest in in FPUScholarWorks.

The editorial staff of Pacific Journal is: Rod Janzen, editor; Hope Nisly, retired Hiebert Library staff member, assistant editor/book review editor; Marshall Johnston; Honora Howell Chapman, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State; and Tim Haydock, chief development and communications officer, Youth Leadership Institute, associate editors.