Thomas Hebert and Matthew T. McBee's (2007) recent study of gifted university students examines how an honors program can function as a community for social, intellectual, and psychological growth. In particular, they find that honors programs offer advantageous support for gifted students in navigating social isolation, in questioning traditional religious beliefs, and in providing a social community during the college years. For the researchers, this community is particularly important for helping such students develop a "strong sense of worth" and "a sense of belonging," as well as ultimately supporting them in actualizing their full potential. While on the surface these are laudable goals, the measures of student self-worth and potential are not themselves universally held values, an observation that the author makes as a member of the religious communities called Baptist. What one concludes about the context and purpose of worth, of belonging, and of potential says much about the contested goals and pedagogy of honors education itself. To explore what Baptist life and theology might say to contemporary honors education, the author examines an older historical debate in education that has import in honors: the purpose of reading the "Great Books." He explores the Baptist experience of religious freedom under three topics: (1) the narrative of conversion; (2) the competency of the individual and of the community; and (3) the hospitality and "eros" of conversion. (Contains 31 notes.)