ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Sacred Theology in Patristic Studies
S.T.D. credential
Meet the early Christian teachers whose writings, worship, and debates helped shape the beliefs the church still shares.
Doctor of Sacred Theology in Patristic 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 study in Patristic Studies is for those producing original work on early Christian sources. The Fathers are where Christian theological language was invented — under persecution, against Gnostic rivals, in arguments so technical that a single letter divided the church. The ICAS-accredited program at Kingdom of Life University reads them in their own texts rather than through later summaries of what they are supposed to have concluded.
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 Theology in Patristic 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
- Patristic Studies - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) in Patristic 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 patristic texts in context rather than as proof-texts for later positions
Explain the technical vocabulary of the trinitarian and christological settlements
Account for the theological and political pressures behind the early councils
Recognise where Greek and Latin theology proceed on different assumptions
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Analyse a patristic text for its argument and its polemical setting
Explain what was at stake in a specific conciliar formulation
Compare Greek and Latin treatments of the same doctrine
Reconstruct an element of early Christian practice from the available sources
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Historical theology instructor
Theological researcher
Christian writer
Ministry formation leader
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
Patristic exegesis on its own terms: typology, allegory, the rule of faith, and why methods that look arbitrary to us were disciplined by criteria we have forgotten.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament as the early church's Bible — the text they defended against Marcion and read almost entirely as a book about Christ.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament as it was received, cited and disputed before the canon was closed, and what the Fathers' quotations tell us about their texts.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrines in the making: how ousia, hypostasis, physis and prosopon acquired the meanings the councils fixed on them.
Doctoral Seminar: Apostolic Fathers
Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, the Didache, and the Shepherd of Hermas: the earliest post-apostolic writings and what they show about ministry, worship, and martyrdom.
Doctoral Seminar: Apologists and the Second Century
Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and their contemporaries answering pagan and Gnostic challenge, and inventing much of the vocabulary Christian theology still uses.
Doctoral Seminar: Trinitarian Controversies
The Arian crisis from Nicaea to Constantinople, following Athanasius and the Cappadocians and the technical terms on which the settlement turned.
Doctoral Seminar: Christological Councils
Ephesus and Chalcedon and the christological questions behind them, including the traditions that did not accept the definition and their continuing life.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Augustine and the Latin West
Augustine's Confessions, City of God, and anti-Pelagian writings, and the long shadow they cast over Western accounts of grace, will, and history.
Doctoral Seminar: Greek Fathers and Eastern Theology
Basil, the Gregories, Chrysostom, Maximus, and John of Damascus, read for a theological idiom that developed on different assumptions from the Latin West.
Doctoral Seminar: Early Christian Worship and Practice
Baptism, eucharist, catechesis, and the liturgical year as the early church practised them, reconstructed from homilies, church orders, and archaeology.
Doctoral Seminar: Monasticism and Spirituality
Desert asceticism, the rise of coenobitic life, and early Christian spiritual writing, with attention to what these movements assumed about the body and prayer.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Ascetic and liturgical practice as the Fathers understood formation, and the vocational question of reading people whose spirituality is genuinely foreign to your own.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A patristic text or controversy researched in the primary sources and written as a sustained historical and theological argument.
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 Theology
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 Patristic 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.