Author | Enneagram Teacher  & Coach

About the Author

J. Steve Bruner is an author, teacher, certified Enneagram coach, and what many readers have affectionately called an archaeologist of the soul. For more than fifty years, he has explored the intersection of Scripture, theology, psychology, neuroscience, history, and the contemplative tradition in search of one enduring question:

How then shall I live?

One of the questions that has quietly guided J. Steve Bruner's life first came to him in college while reading Francis Schaeffer's classic work, How Should We Then Live? Schaeffer had borrowed the question from the prophet Ezekiel, where a broken people, burdened by the consequences of their choices, asked, "How should we then live?" Schaeffer challenged a generation to recover a Christian worldview by understanding how truth shapes culture, history, and society.

Bruner embraces that vision but believes the journey takes us one step deeper. Before we can answer how we should live, we must first discover who God created us to be. Because every person bears the image of God, Imago Dei, our way of life is meant to flow from our true identity rather than from rules, performance, or religious obligation. That conviction became the foundation of The Soulprint Code, a lifelong exploration of the human soul, where the enduring question, How should we then live?, is answered by first discovering the deeper question: Who did God create me to become?  Am I being true to myself, who God made me to be? 

At the heart of the universe, from the beginning of time and throughout the unfolding story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, Steve believes everything ultimately points to Jesus Christ. Created in the image of God, every person is a unity of body, mind, and spirit. While the mind shapes our thoughts and the body gives us life in the physical world, Steve believes our deepest transformation begins within our spirit, where the Holy Spirit awakens us to the presence of Christ. It is this divine relationship that gives meaning to our lives, restores us to our true selves, and holds the cosmos together.  Steve would say, "Everything Jesus."

This lifelong pursuit led him to develop The Soulprint Philosophy, a Christian philosophy of human transformation rooted in the biblical vision of the Imago Dei, enriched by the wisdom of the Beatitudes, informed by psychology and neuroscience, and illuminated through the spiritual insights of the Enneagram - and made real by the Holy Spirit. At its heart is the conviction that every person bears a unique Soulprint and that the purpose of life is not simply to know more, but to become more, growing into the person God intended from the beginning.

Within this philosophy, Bruner developed Soulprint Theory, a practical model of transformation that explores how the ego can obscure our true identity and how contemplation, self-awareness, grace, and faithful living help uncover the life God has written within us. Bruner believes that once we discover who God created us to be and surrender that identity back to God, then faith, good works, purpose, and identity naturally flow.  For him, belief ultimately is a spiraling rhythm of truth and love. These ideas are brought to life through The Soulprint Code, an integrated ecosystem of books, courses, coaching, digital tools, and community designed to help people live with greater wisdom, purpose, and authenticity.

Bruner's writing has been shaped not only by decades of study but also by the experiences of a full and varied life.  Over the course of his life, he has served as a social worker, corporate executive, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, teacher, and mentor, bringing together decades of experience in leadership, service, and the care of people.  He is the author of more than twenty books, a certified Enneagram coach trained through two respected institutions, a Stephen Minister, and a longtime student of Christian contemplation and spiritual formation. His own journey has included seasons of profound joy, personal struggle, and the deep lessons that emerge only through grace.

Readers often remark that his books help them see familiar truths in entirely new ways. Rather than offering easy answers, Bruner invites readers into a thoughtful conversation where ancient wisdom meets modern understanding, opening fresh corridors of the mind and spirit.

His hope is simple: that what took a lifetime to discover might help illuminate, and perhaps shorten, the journey of others as they become who God created them to be.

Steve enjoys hiking, backpacking, and riding motorcycles.  He has hiked 700 miles of the Appalachian Trail and hopes to do more...