ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Sacred Music in Sacred Arts
D.S.M. credential
Bring faith and creativity together through art, stories, drama, and beauty that express Christian hope and enrich worship.
Doctor of Sacred Music in Sacred Arts: Your Grant Price
Applications are free. Eligible applicants receive their admission and Grant decision before any one-time program fee is requested.
Published tuition
$24,900.00
$649.00 Registry & Assessment Fee
$149
Doctoral Degree
2026 Life in Christ Grant is active
Ministry Experience, Evaluated Against Academic Standards.
Documented prior learning may be considered when it aligns with program outcomes; every credit decision follows academic review.
Program Overview
About this program
Doctoral study in Sacred Arts is for those directing arts ministry and teaching theology and the arts. The church commissioned most of Western art and then largely stopped. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University program covers the theology of beauty and making, Scripture's own imaginative forms, the history from icon to whitewash, literature and drama in ministry, art in the worship space, and the awkward position of the artist inside a congregation.
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Recognition of demonstrated learning in theology and ministry
Experienced ministry practitioners demonstrate competencies developed through years of service, theological study, and continuing learning. The assessment connects that learning with the published outcomes of the Doctor of Sacred Music in Sacred Arts through biblical understanding, theological reflection, research, and ministry judgment.
70
Audited questions in this pathway bank
30
Questions drawn for each sitting
60 minutes
Time available for the knowledge component
24 hours
Interval before reassessment
Theological knowledge and degree outcomes
- Published bank title
- Sacred Arts - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Sacred Music (D.S.M.) in Sacred Arts
- Question construction
- 14 pathway subject-bank sources contribute 5 questions each, producing the complete 70-question bank.
How completion is reported
- The knowledge component contributes 40% and assessed ministry experience contributes 60% to one weighted result.
- The reported result is no lower than 80%, matching the 80% degree pass mark.
- Reassessment draws a fresh question set and is included in program access, with no additional fee or limit on sittings.
- The integrated assessment covers the published degree plan; separate course assessments, a capstone paper, and a dissertation defense are not required.
Program Objectives
What you will achieve
Integrate advanced theological inquiry and ministry judgment in service to the church and its mission
State a theology of beauty and making grounded in creation and incarnation
Use artistic forms to communicate what argument alone cannot
Commission and curate art for a worship space with theological intent
Support artists as members with a vocation rather than as service providers
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a theological rationale for an artistic work or installation
Design an arts element that serves a service's theological purpose
Curate a seasonal installation for a worship space
Establish a congregational practice for commissioning and critiquing work
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Arts ministry director
Christian writer or artist
Worship and arts pastor
Christian arts educator
Major Subject Areas
The fourteen subjects you study, and the ones the ministry assessment draws on
Foundational and Major-Core Subjects
Four foundations every pathway shares, then four that belong to this field.
Doctoral Seminar: Biblical Interpretation
Scripture's own forms — parable, vision, poem, lament — and what it means that revelation largely did not arrive as propositions.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's craftsmen, tabernacle and temple, and the command against images standing beside a commission to make them.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament's imagery and the incarnation as the theological ground on which Christians defended visual art.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrines at issue: creation, incarnation, idolatry, and the long dispute over whether the invisible God may be depicted.
Doctoral Seminar: Theology of Beauty and Making
Beauty and making in Christian theology, covering creation, image, craft, and the tradition's long ambivalence about images.
Doctoral Seminar: Scripture and the Imagination
Scripture's own imaginative forms, covering parable, vision, and poetry, and what they imply about how truth can be communicated.
Doctoral Seminar: Visual Arts in Christian History
Visual art in Christian history, covering icon, cathedral, Reformation whitewash, and the modern separation of art from the church.
Doctoral Seminar: Literature and Christian Vision
Literature and Christian vision, covering the ways fiction and poetry have carried theological claims that argument could not.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Drama and Storytelling in Ministry
Drama and storytelling in ministry, covering script, performance, and the use of narrative in teaching and worship.
Doctoral Seminar: Art in Worship Space
Art in the worship space, covering architecture, commissioning, seasonal installation, and the way a room forms a congregation.
Doctoral Seminar: The Artist in the Congregation
The artist within a congregation, covering vocation, patronage, critique, and the tension between artistic integrity and congregational use.
Doctoral Seminar: Arts and Cultural Witness
The arts as cultural witness, covering public exhibition, collaboration, and Christian participation in artistic life beyond the church.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
The artist's formation, including the tension between artistic honesty and congregational usefulness.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A commissioned or curated work with a written theological rationale, produced and installed for an actual setting.
Admission Requirements
What you need to apply
- Master's degree in theology, ministry, or a relevant field from an accredited or recognized institution
- Official graduate transcripts demonstrating advanced academic preparation
- Research statement identifying a proposed area of theological or ministry inquiry
- Scholarly or ministry-focused writing sample
- Current curriculum vitae documenting relevant research, church, or ministry leadership experience
- Three ministry or academic recommendations and a faculty interview
Degree Completion Requirements
Requirements for the Doctor of Sacred Music
Graduation Requirements
- Complete at least 60 doctoral semester credits in the approved degree plan
- Pass the Competency-Based Ministry Assessment for the degree
- Satisfy every doctoral-core, research-methods, specialization, elective, and Competency-Based Ministry Assessment requirement group
- Integrate theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience under the published result-weighting policy
- Recognize demonstrated learning against every published degree-plan requirement
Culminating Experience
Demonstrate doctoral-level theological synthesis, research judgment, and ministry leadership through Competency-Based Ministry Assessment, combining theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience.
Credit Distribution
| Requirement Area | Credits | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Doctoral Core | 24 | 8 courses. Doctoral theory, disciplinary foundations, and scholarly leadership. |
| Research Design and Methods | 12 | 4 courses. University-wide doctoral preparation in quantitative, qualitative, measurement, and research-ethics competencies. |
| Area of Specialization | 15 | 5 courses. Focused doctoral inquiry supporting the learner's research agenda. |
| Doctoral Elective | 6 | 2 courses. Any doctoral-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan. |
| Competency-Based Ministry Assessment | 3 | 1 course. Integrated doctoral theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan. |
| Total Degree Credits | 60 | All requirements must be completed within the approved degree plan. |
Program Details
Program Length
Self-Paced
Self-Paced Learning
Total Credits
60 credit hours
Up to 30 Transfer Credits
Published Degree Plan
20 courses
Across 5 required curriculum groups
Format
Flexible Study
Assessment Format
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Selected Degree
Doctorate
School
School of Theology and Ministry
Institutional Status
ICAS Accredited
Ready to Begin Your Accredited Sacred Arts Degree?
Applying costs nothing, and the work you have already done may count. Have a look at what this pathway asks for before you decide.