ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Master of Arts in New Testament Studies
M.A. credential
Follow the life of Jesus and the first Christians, and discover how the New Testament speaks to faith today.
Master of Arts 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
$14,900.00
$599.00 Registry & Assessment Fee
$99
Master's 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
The M.A. in New Testament Studies is where the synoptic problem, Pauline chronology and the Johannine community stop being footnotes. 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 Master of Arts 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 - Master Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Master of Arts (M.A.) 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 study, spiritual maturity, and ministry wisdom for Christian leadership
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 advanced biblical and theological evidence for clear teaching, leadership, and ministry judgment
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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced Christian Doctrine
How the doctrines were derived from these texts, and where the derivation is contested — Christology, atonement, the church, and the future.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited or recognized institution
- Official transcripts showing preparation appropriate to graduate theological study
- Statement of theological, academic, and ministry goals
- Current resume or curriculum vitae
- Two ministry, professional, or academic recommendations
Degree Completion Requirements
Requirements for the Master of Arts
Graduation Requirements
- Complete at least 36 graduate semester credits in the approved degree plan
- Pass the Competency-Based Ministry Assessment for the degree
- Satisfy every graduate-core, specialization, elective, and comprehensive 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 graduate theological understanding and ministry judgment through Competency-Based Ministry Assessment, recognizing advanced learning developed through prior study and service.
Credit Distribution
| Requirement Area | Credits | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Graduate Core | 21 | 7 courses. Required advanced theory, methods, and professional competencies of the discipline. |
| Graduate Specialization | 9 | 3 courses. Focused graduate study in an approved concentration or practice area. |
| Graduate Elective | 3 | 1 course. Any master-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan. |
| Competency-Based Ministry Assessment | 3 | 1 course. Integrated graduate theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan. |
| Total Degree Credits | 36 | All requirements must be completed within the approved degree plan. |
Program Details
Program Length
Self-Paced
Self-Paced Learning
Total Credits
36 credit hours
Up to 18 Transfer Credits
Published Degree Plan
12 courses
Across 4 required curriculum groups
Format
Flexible Study
Assessment Format
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Selected Degree
Master
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.