John Crutchfield

Dr. John Crutchfield is a professor at Columbia International University who is passionate about helping students discover the transforming power of Scripture. He teaches Hermeneutics because he believes that learning to rightly interpret the Bible is not just an academic skill but a lifelong practice that changes how students see God, themselves, and the world around them.

Dr. Crutchfield also teaches the Progress of Redemption, a course close to his heart. He is convinced that finding our place in God’s redemptive story is essential to discovering real fulfillment and a clear sense of calling, and he loves walking alongside students as they make that discovery for themselves. His course offerings also include the book of Psalms, Old Testament Wisdom Literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job), and the Gospel of Matthew, giving students a rich foundation in both the poetic and narrative books of Scripture.

Before joining CIU’s faculty in 2001, Dr. Crutchfield pastored two churches in Ohio, an experience that continues to shape how he teaches today. He brings a pastor’s heart into the classroom, approaching Scripture not merely as a subject to master but as a living word meant to be lived out in community. Dr. Crutchfield is an ordained Anglican clergyman in the Diocese of the Carolinas, and his ongoing ministry keeps his teaching grounded in the everyday realities of church life.

Dr. Crutchfield was raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He married his college sweetheart, Diane, in 1986, and together they have four grown children and six grandchildren. Their family has been at the center of Dr. Crutchfield’s life for nearly four decades, and he counts that legacy of faith among his greatest joys. His hope for every student who sits in his classroom is that they would leave not just with knowledge of the Bible, but with a deeper love for the God who wrote it.