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Dr. Bart Bruehler
Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament
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Bart was born and raised in northeastern Ohio. His single mother did a wonderful job of raising him and his brother, but church was not a regular part of their life. That all changed when the Lord brought Bart into a new group of friends in his teen years. Soon after becoming a follower of Christ at 14, Bart was found himself in charge of his high school Bible study and thus began a lifelong call to ministry and the study of scripture that has now brought him to teach at IWU.
Bart’s years of study and ministry consistently intertwine two threads: serving the poor and the study of scripture. Bart has served with the Salvation Army in alcohol rehabilitation and camp programs and served for two years as the Transitional House Manager with Good Works, Inc. a ministry in southeastern Ohio. This ministry to the “widow and the orphan” expanded to involve “the stranger” as well (see Deuteronomy 10:18). While living in Atlanta, Bart and his family lived in a community that was approximately 1/3 refugees who had been resettled from all over the world (Vietnam, Somalia, Bosnia, and Iran just to name a few). They also attended a church predominately attended by refugees from Sudan and West Africa, and Bart was even known to sing occasionally in Mabaan (a tribal language of Sudan). Eventually, this developed into an opportunity for Bart to become the project coordinator for SHINE (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), a program that organized college students to tutor older immigrants and refugees in preparation for their citizenship exams. |
Bart began as a music major at Capital University (he still enjoys playing the trombone), but later transferred to Asbury College to finish a degree in Bible. He then went on to Asbury Theological Seminary where he took all of the inductive Bible and missiology classes he could. After two years out of school (during which he served with Good Works), Bart went on to doctoral studies at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. While at Emory, Bart studied New Testament with an outside emphasis on Hinduism. He has an ongoing interest in the intersections of Hinduism and Christianity, both on the ground in India and in theological dialogue. Bart’s studies at Emory led him to focus on the gospel of Luke, specifically examining how Luke uses space and place in his portrayal of Jesus. Bart’s life verse is also from Luke: “Therefore, unless you give up all your possessions, you cannot be my disciple” (14:33). Bart continues to ask for the Spirit’s help to interpret scripture and bring that interpretation to bear upon ministry to the vulnerable and outcasts in our midst and around the world.
Bart is married to the amazing and joyful Anne Bruehler, professor of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at IWU. They have three children Soren, Pascal, and Eleanor and can often be seen walking around campus together. He is an ordained deacon in the Free Methodist Church and currently attends College Wesleyan Church where he teaches Sunday School. His current responsibilities focus on teaching New Testament Survey and Advanced Greek at IWU.
Office: 204 Noggle Christian Ministries Center
Phone: (765) 677-2685
Email: bart.bruehler@indwes.edu
Education
B.A. In Bible, Asbury College (1995)
M.Div., Asbury Theological Seminary (1998)
Ph.D. in New Testament, Emory University (2007)
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