Craig Long’s teaching in a jail taught him how to think on his feet when answering questions about the Bible. While switching from a jail room to a classroom marks a huge shift in audiences, his overarching goal remains consistent.
What began as an unexpected career now helps him equip college students to read the Word in a deeply spiritual and academic manner. Prior to his time at Taylor, Long served as a pastor and taught prisoners of all faiths at a jail. Having joined Taylor in 2024, Long has invested in the lives of his students by sharing from his own unique experiences and the Bible that he learned in his previous work.
His time at the jail gave him the ability to relate to people of all different backgrounds, while also connecting them to something central. This remains the same at Taylor.
The Bible was a form of hope for many in the jail. For them, the conversations were not just hypothetical situations: they were real life applications.
Additionally, Long was able to learn a lot about how to answer questions.
“Adult learners, as a group, tend to feel more confident to ask questions and to express disagreements,” Long said. “I learned the ability to express my beliefs or understanding without the need to keep trying to convince someone. This approach to answering questions was furthered by the multi-cultural and multi-religious setting.”
His experience with a multi-cultural environment in the jail helped prepare Long to answer difficult life questions in the classroom. It also allows him to share stories from jail that directly apply to the Bible.
Long said his favorite part of teaching, however, is uplifting curious students.
“It helps them be able to read the Bible so they can hear God as clearly as possible,” he said.
This core mission of his teaching has remained the same through his experience in the jail and on a college campus.
At Taylor, he teaches biblical literature and inductive study of the Bible among other Bible classes aimed at directing students to study the Word at a deeper, more applicable level. Long also loves when students are able to make connections and ask questions to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible.
“Last Friday, we were talking about this long list of Old Testament capital punishment crimes and trying to wrestle through whether there was something that held them together,” Long said. “It was amazing when a student was able to come up with an answer that really made sense of both the theological context and the social context of these commands.”
By talking about difficult subjects, such as whether or not those punishments in Leviticus, Long strengthens students' ability to think deeply and reflect on the why behind God’s actions.
He also seeks to help them understand more by drawing from his own personal experience. Students who have taken classes with Long mention this as something that separates him from many of the other teachers they have had.
“I think one thing he has done very well is incorporating his personal spiritual journey of how he has tried to pursue the Bible and how he’s tried to gain understanding,” said Josiah King, a junior taking Inductive Study of the Bible with Long this Fall. “He takes from his own experience and his own failures and uses those to help us learn better and be more prepared for what is next.”
Students say this is a rare environment, one that separates Long’s class from many others. It is one thing to teach from the Bible in its context, and another thing to share personal experiences of how it has impacted his life. This is what will prepare students for what comes after college, as having head knowledge of the Bible is not very useful, said Audrey Mills.
The desire to understand allows students to confidently approach Long with questions. Long recalls times when he has talked students through the Orthodox faith and Catholic faith, seeking to hear why they believe what they believe while pointing back to the Bible.
“His class is more hands-on work, and this is what I love versus other classes that are more head knowledge,” said Mills, a sophomore biblical literature major taking Inductive Studying of the Bible with Long this Fall. “We’re able to actually apply the things that we learn, and that makes it different. I don’t have to worry about a grade in this class as much as I do actually learning the content.”
Long seeks to continue applying what he learned while teaching individuals in the jail to convey to a different group of students how applicable the Bible can be in real life.
