ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Master of Arts in Public Theology
M.A. credential
Explore how Christian faith speaks to public life, and how thoughtful service can contribute to the good of your community.
Master 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
$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 Public Theology works on the institutional questions — liberty, authority, civil society and the common good. 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 Master 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 - Master Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Master of Arts (M.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
Integrate advanced theological study, spiritual maturity, and ministry wisdom for Christian leadership
Give theological reasons for Christian participation in public life
Analyse a public dispute in terms of the competing goods actually at stake
Communicate a Christian position to an audience that does not share its premises
Hold conviction and civility together under real disagreement
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize advanced biblical and theological evidence for clear teaching, leadership, and ministry judgment
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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced New Testament Theology
Render unto Caesar, Romans 13, Revelation's empire, and the New Testament's genuinely mixed witness on political authority.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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.
Advanced Media and Public Witness
Public communication in a fragmented media environment: platform incentives, audience formation, and the difference between witness and performance.
Advanced 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.
Advanced Christian Hope and Public Life
How eschatological hope shapes political expectation, including the temptations of both withdrawal and triumphalism.
Advanced 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.
Advanced 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
- 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 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.