ICAS-Accredited Degree Program

Bachelor of Arts in Public Theology

B.A. credential

Explore how Christian faith speaks to public life, and how thoughtful service can contribute to the good of your community.

ICAS-Accredited Degrees - Financial Aid

Bachelor of Arts in Public Theology: Your Grant Price

Applications are free. Eligible applicants receive their admission and Grant decision before any one-time program fee is requested.

Published tuition

$9,900.00

$569.00 Registry & Assessment Fee

$69

Bachelor's Degree

Review the Grant

2026 Life in Christ Grant is active

(Prior Learning Evaluation)

Ministry Experience, Evaluated Against Academic Standards.

Ministry Experience
Church Leadership
Congregational Service
Theological Study

Documented prior learning may be considered when it aligns with program outcomes; every credit decision follows academic review.

Self-Paced
Self-Paced Learning
120 Credits
Up to 90 Transfer Credits
Flexible Study
Format
ICAS Accredited
Institutional Status

Program Overview

About this program

The B.A. in Public Theology asks what warrants Christian speech in public and what makes it worth hearing. Christians argue in public whether or not they have thought about how to. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University program works on the theological grounds for public speech, the church-state settlements the tradition has produced, religious liberty as it is actually litigated, and how to say something intelligible to people who share none of your premises.

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 Bachelor of Arts in Public Theology 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
Public Theology - Bachelor Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Credential
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Public Theology
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

1

Build biblical and theological foundations for faithful Christian life, witness, and service

2

Give theological reasons for Christian participation in public life

3

Analyse a public dispute in terms of the competing goods actually at stake

4

Communicate a Christian position to an audience that does not share its premises

5

Hold conviction and civility together under real disagreement

Learning Outcomes

Skills and competencies you will develop

Interpret Scripture responsibly and apply Christian theology with wisdom in church and community contexts

Write a public argument that is both theologically grounded and publicly intelligible

Analyse a religious liberty dispute on its competing principles

Assess how a media environment shapes the reception of a Christian claim

Propose a congregational response to a local question of the common good

Career Opportunities

Where this degree can take you

Public theology writer

Ministry advocacy leader

Christian nonprofit director

Church communications 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.

PUBL 2014 credits

Biblical Interpretation

Scripture as a public text: how it has been used in political argument, well and badly, and the interpretive discipline that distinguishes the two.

PUBL 2114 credits

Old Testament Theology

Israel as a polity — law, land, kingship, prophetic critique — and what a nation under covenant does and does not tell us about a modern state.

PUBL 2214 credits

New Testament Theology

Render unto Caesar, Romans 13, Revelation's empire, and the New Testament's genuinely mixed witness on political authority.

PUBL 2314 credits

Christian Doctrine

The doctrines that decide a political theology: creation's ordering, the fall's reach into institutions, and what may be hoped for before the end.

PUBL 3014 credits

Theology of the Public Square

What warrants Christian speech in public at all: the theological grounds for it, the forms it has taken, and the objection that it imports private conviction into shared life.

PUBL 3114 credits

Church and Political Authority

Church and state across the tradition, from Augustine's two cities through Reformation settlements to modern constitutional arrangements and their tensions.

PUBL 3214 credits

Christianity and Culture

The long argument over Christ and culture, tested against specific cultural artefacts and movements rather than left at the level of typology.

PUBL 3314 credits

Religious Liberty

Conscience, establishment, accommodation, and the limits of religious exemption, examined through actual legal disputes and their competing principles.

Specialization Subjects

Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.

PUBL 3414 credits

Poverty, Justice, and the Common Good

What the common good requires, and how Christian social thought on poverty and justice translates into policy, institution, and congregational practice.

PUBL 3514 credits

Media and Public Witness

Public communication in a fragmented media environment: platform incentives, audience formation, and the difference between witness and performance.

PUBL 3614 credits

Civil Society and Institutions

Associations, schools, charities, and congregations as bearers of public life, and the theological case for institutions that are neither state nor market.

PUBL 3714 credits

Christian Hope and Public Life

How eschatological hope shapes political expectation, including the temptations of both withdrawal and triumphalism.

PUBL 4814 credits

Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation

Conviction and civility held together under pressure, and the vocational discipline of arguing in public without being formed by the incentives of the platform.

PUBL 4914 credits

Integrative Theology and Ministry

A public question worked through theologically and then written for an audience that does not share the premises.

Admission Requirements

What you need to apply

  • High school diploma or recognized equivalent from an accredited or approved institution
  • Official secondary-school and any prior college transcripts
  • Demonstrated readiness for college-level reading, writing, and theological study
  • English-language proficiency documentation when prior education was not completed in English

Degree Completion Requirements

Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts

Graduation Requirements

  • Complete at least 120 semester credits in the approved degree plan
  • Pass the Competency-Based Ministry Assessment for the degree
  • Satisfy every general-education, theological-foundation, major-core, specialization, and elective 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 integrated biblical, theological, and ministry competence through Competency-Based Ministry Assessment, combining theological knowledge with assessed ministry experience.

Credit Distribution

Requirement AreaCreditsPurpose
General Education3010 courses. University-wide preparation in written and oral communication, quantitative reasoning, natural and social science, humanities, and information literacy.
School Foundation186 courses. Shared disciplinary foundation for every program in the School of Theology and Ministry.
Major Core328 courses. Required disciplinary foundations and professional competencies of the major.
Major Specialization164 courses. Focused study aligned with the learner's academic and career goals.
Open Electives164 courses. Any bachelor-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan.
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment81 course. Integrated theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan.
Total Degree Credits120All requirements must be completed within the approved degree plan.

Program Details

Program Length

Self-Paced

Self-Paced Learning

Total Credits

120 credit hours

Up to 90 Transfer Credits

Published Degree Plan

33 courses

Across 6 required curriculum groups

Format

Flexible Study

Assessment Format

Competency-Based Ministry Assessment

Selected Degree

Bachelor

School

School of Theology and Ministry

Institutional Status

ICAS Accredited

Ready to Begin Your Accredited Public Theology 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.