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Sarah Bixler

POSITION: Assistant Professor of Formation & Practical Theology; Associate Dean - Seminary

DEPARTMENTS:
School of Theology, Humanities and Performing Arts
Seminary

LOCATION: Main Campus, Harrisonburg | SB 134

PHONE: (540) 432-4264

EMAIL: sarah.bixler@emu.edu

Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler teaches courses in formation and practical theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and youth ministry in EMU's undergraduate Bible, Religion and Theology program. She holds a PhD in practical theology from Princeton Theological Seminary with an emphasis on Christian education and formation. While at Princeton, she worked in administrative roles to launch the Center for Church Planting and Revitalization and Iron Sharpening Iron: Leadership Education for Women Clergy project. She is program director and co-principal investigator of Conectere, a $1.25-million attachment-based research project at EMU funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. that supports caregivers in building secure relationships with their children in order to share their faith and values. 

Dr. Bixler is currently working on a book drawn from her dissertation, advised by Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean, utilizing attachment theory to understand and respond to the paradox of adolescent happiness without belonging in religious communities. Dr. Bixler serves as a member of the working board of the Global Association for Interpersonal Neurobiology Studies, the steering committee of the Religious Reflections on Friendship seminar in the American Academy of Religion, and the editorial board of the Cascade Books series Studies in Missional Hermeneutics, Theology, and Praxis.

With more than a decade of ministry and teaching experience, Dr. Bixler is deeply committed to robust scholarship and the holistic formation of persons and faith communities. Her background includes work as a youth minister at Zion Mennonite Church (Broadway, VA), teacher at Eastern Mennonite Middle School and administrator and youth minister for Virginia Mennonite Conference, and she currently serves in Virginia Mennonite Conference and Mennonite Church USA leadership roles. Together with their three school-aged children, Sarah and her spouse, Benjamin Bixler, seek restor(y)ation on their historic farm, a former plantation known as the Lincoln Homestead in Linville, VA. They are active members of Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg. 

Education

BA, Eastern Mennonite University (English)
MDIV, Princeton Theological Seminary (Dvinity)
PHD, Princeton Theological Seminary (Practical Theology/Christian Education)

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