As a boy, John Barton never expected he would grow up to be a world traveler, start a nonprofit, and spend many years of his life intensely studying the biggest religions in the world.
Barton is a visiting religion professor and the director for Faith and Learning at Pepperdine University. He is a member of the University Church of Christ and involves himself in issues regarding poverty and injustice in different countries.
“I’m trying to break down barriers, increase religious literacy, and get people to understand, respect, engage and collaborate across religious lines,” Barton said.
Barton was born and raised in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. As a child in a predominantly Roman Catholic and Jewish area, Barton was part of the minority as a Protestant. Being different from his peers intrigued him, making him wonder what other cultures were like. Still, Barton’s knowledge of the rest of the world was lacking. He had never moved from his hometown and longed to explore other states and countries.
“It wasn’t until I went to college that I had the ability to start traveling,” Barton said. “I spent a semester in Florence, Italy that completely opened up my mind and got me thinking about things in all different ways.”
His study-abroad experiences, which included a trip to Kenya during his senior year, rocked his world so much that he said he wanted to explore further.
Barton completed his undergraduate degree in Arkansas at Harding University. He double majored in religion and business, but soon realized he wasn’t very good at business and chose to move forward with only his religion degree. He traveled to Memphis, Tennessee and completed his Master of Divinity at Harding Theological Seminary.
At the age of 24, Barton got married to his wife, Sarah, Pepperdine University’s current chaplain. When their older son, Nate, was still an infant, Barton moved the family to Kampala, Uganda where Nate’s sister, Brynn, was born. Barton obtained his doctorate in postcolonial African philosophy at Makerere University.
He adored East Africa and decided to stay there for six years. During his years there he founded a nonprofit organization called Kibo that focuses on sustainable development.
“The nonprofit works to address poverty and justice issues in East African communities,” Barton said.
After six years of living in Africa, the family packed up again and this time moved to Michigan.
Barton took a job at Rochester college in Detroit working as a professor of philosophy. He found the college environment very appealing and enjoyed teaching students at such an impressionable age.
“I find it to be a way to contribute to the world,” Barton said.
Overtime, he became a dean at the school and after a few years Barton accepted the position of vice president of academics. The job gave him an impressive title, but Barton was constantly stressed and busy. In 2011, Barton moved to California to take the job at Pepperdine when his wife, Sarah, became the university’s chaplain.
“I don’t feel high levels of stress like I have in the past,” Barton said about working at Pepperdine.
Barton’s colleagues and students hold him in high regard when it comes to being a professor.
“He’s a great teacher,” Nick Cumming, visiting assistant professor of religion, said. “He knows his subject well from both knowledge but also experience. He’s able to bring a lot of that knowledge across when he teaches.”
Jenna Misuraca, a junior integrated marketing communication major, said Barton is one of the professors that goes the extra mile to make class interesting for his students. He wants his students to not only learn about a religion, but to experience the religion’s customs and traditions with their own eyes.
“Instead of reading facts off of a PowerPoint, my students get to meet real people, touch them, see their kids,” Barton said.
He is constantly looking for new temples to take his students to and new religious figures to speak in front of the class.
“Professor Barton is unlike any of my other teachers,” Ella Han, junior liberal arts major, said. “His class is so fun to be in, time flies.”
Barton has recently turned 50, and rather than focusing on making new experiences, he is working on building what he’s already started. He works to live a life full of gratitude.
“Anything I’ve been privileged to accomplish is because of others who have shaped me, affirmed me, empowered me, pushed me,” Barton said.
If he could give advice to others looking to be successful in the world he has two tips: “Don’t take yourself too seriously” and “focus on gratitude more than self accomplishments.”
Rebecca Eliav completed this story under Dr. Christina Littlefield’s supervision in Jour 241 in fall 2017.
