ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament Studies
Ph.D. credential
Follow the life of Jesus and the first Christians, and discover how the New Testament speaks to faith today.
Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament Studies: 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 work in New Testament Studies is for those who will teach the text and answer to the current state of the field. Twenty-seven documents, written across perhaps sixty years, by people who mostly did not know they were writing Scripture. Kingdom of Life University's ICAS-accredited program reads them in that world — a Roman province, a synagogue argument, a house church with a problem — and asks how their witness to Jesus held together well enough to become one book.
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 Philosophy in New Testament Studies 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
- New Testament Studies - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in New Testament Studies
- 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
Read each New Testament document in its own first-century setting before harmonising it with others
Explain the literary relationships among the Gospels and what they imply for interpretation
Give a coherent account of Pauline theology that holds its disputed elements together
Interpret apocalyptic material according to the conventions of its genre
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Perform a synoptic comparison and draw defensible conclusions about an evangelist's purpose
Reconstruct the situation a New Testament letter addresses from the letter itself
Assess competing interpretive approaches to Revelation against the text's structure and imagery
Show how Second Temple background clarifies a specific New Testament passage
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Bible teacher
Preaching pastor
New Testament researcher
Christian publisher or editor
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
Reading a first-century document as a first-century document: occasion, audience, rhetorical convention, and the difference between what a letter says and what it assumes.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Scriptures the apostles had. Israel's story, law, and prophets as the New Testament writers knew them, because nothing they wrote makes sense without it.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The core of the program, taken whole: four gospels with irreconcilable details and one subject, Acts as a theological history, the letters as occasional writing, Revelation as neither code nor chaos.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
How the doctrines were derived from these texts, and where the derivation is contested — Christology, atonement, the church, and the future.
Doctoral Seminar: Synoptic Gospels
Matthew, Mark, and Luke compared passage by passage: the literary relationship between them, the shaping interests of each evangelist, and what the differences reveal rather than conceal.
Doctoral Seminar: Johannine Literature
John's Gospel and letters studied for their signs, discourses, and dualisms, and for the community questions of belonging, conflict, and confession that press on them.
Doctoral Seminar: Acts and the Early Church
Acts as the second volume of Luke's work: the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem outward, the speeches that carry its argument, and its account of how the church made decisions.
Doctoral Seminar: Pauline Theology
Paul's theology approached as a whole, taking up justification, participation in Christ, Israel, the law, and the church, and the long scholarly argument over how those pieces fit.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: General Epistles
Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude read for their distinct voices on priesthood, works, suffering, and false teaching, and for the pastoral pressures behind each.
Doctoral Seminar: Revelation and Apocalyptic
Revelation in its apocalyptic genre and first-century imperial setting, with the main interpretive approaches laid out and tested against the text's own imagery and structure.
Doctoral Seminar: Second Temple Backgrounds
Judaism between the Testaments: Qumran, the Pharisees and Sadducees, apocalyptic expectation, synagogue life, and Hellenistic influence, as the world the New Testament assumes.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The theological coherence and diversity of the New Testament canon, asking how twenty-seven documents from varied hands make one witness to Christ.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
What a degree in this material does to your prayer, and the vocational question of teaching a text you have learned to take apart.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A New Testament problem worked the whole way: Greek text, secondary literature, and a written argument that takes a position and defends it.
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 Philosophy
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 New Testament Studies 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.