ICAS-Accredited Degree Program

Master of Arts in Systematic Theology

M.A. credential

Connect the great Christian beliefs about God, salvation, the church, and hope into a clear understanding of your faith.

ICAS-Accredited Degrees - Financial Aid

Master of Arts in Systematic 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

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
36 Credits
Up to 18 Transfer Credits
Flexible Study
Format
ICAS Accredited
Institutional Status

Program Overview

About this program

The M.A. in Systematic Theology is where prolegomena stops being an introduction and starts deciding your conclusions. Systematics is the discipline of making the doctrines answer to each other. Decide what revelation is and you have constrained what you may say about Scripture; decide about providence and you have committed yourself on evil. Kingdom of Life University's ICAS-accredited program follows those connections in order and makes you own the consequences.

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 Systematic 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
Systematic Theology - Master Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
Credential
Master of Arts (M.A.) in Systematic 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

Integrate advanced theological study, spiritual maturity, and ministry wisdom for Christian leadership

2

Order the Christian doctrines so that each is stated in the light of the others

3

Distinguish what the church has confessed from what remains legitimately open

4

Argue a systematic position with explicit biblical and historical grounding

5

Recognise how a prior methodological commitment shapes a later doctrinal conclusion

Learning Outcomes

Skills and competencies you will develop

Synthesize advanced biblical and theological evidence for clear teaching, leadership, and ministry judgment

Write a systematic treatment of a doctrine that engages Scripture, history, and objection

Show how a change in prolegomena alters a downstream doctrinal claim

Compare sacramental theologies across traditions without caricature

State an eschatological position with appropriate confidence and appropriate reserve

Career Opportunities

Where this degree can take you

Theology instructor

Pastor or teaching elder

Doctrinal writer

Denominational theologian

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.

SYST 5013 credits

Advanced Biblical Interpretation

Scripture as theology's source: how a systematic argument uses a text, and the difference between a doctrine drawn from Scripture and one merely decorated with it.

SYST 5023 credits

Advanced Old Testament Theology

Creation, covenant, providence and the human condition as the Old Testament presents them, before the categories were tidied.

SYST 5033 credits

Advanced New Testament Theology

The New Testament material on Christ, the Spirit, the church and the end, read as the constraint every systematic proposal has to satisfy.

SYST 5043 credits

Advanced Christian Doctrine

The whole structure assembled: revelation, God, creation, humanity, sin, Christ, salvation, church, and hope, each stated so its implications for the others are visible.

SYST 5053 credits

Advanced Prolegomena and Revelation

The prior questions: what theology is for, how revelation is understood, and how Scripture, tradition, and reason are related before any doctrine is stated.

SYST 5063 credits

Advanced Theology Proper and the Trinity

God in himself. Aseity, simplicity, eternity, and the trinitarian relations, with the classical formulations tested against their biblical warrant and their modern critics.

SYST 5073 credits

Advanced Creation and Providence

Creation out of nothing, the ordering of providence, and the questions of contingency, natural law, and divine action that follow from taking both seriously.

SYST 5083 credits

Advanced Sin and the Human Condition

Sin as act, condition, and structure, treated through the biblical vocabulary, the Augustinian tradition, and the alternatives proposed to it.

Specialization Subjects

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

SYST 6013 credits

Advanced Person and Work of Christ

The incarnation and the atonement in systematic order: the two natures, the communication of attributes, and how the person and the work require each other.

SYST 6023 credits

Advanced Soteriology and Grace

Grace, election, justification, and sanctification, with the Reformation debates and their later settlements examined for what remains genuinely at issue.

SYST 6033 credits

Advanced Doctrine of the Church and Sacraments

The church's nature and its sacramental life, covering baptism and the Lord's Supper across the main traditions and the ecclesiologies that underwrite them.

SYST 6043 credits

Advanced Eschatology and Christian Hope

Death, resurrection, judgement, and new creation, and the discipline of speaking about the future without claiming more than the church has been given.

SYST 6053 credits

Advanced Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation

What sustained doctrinal work does to a person, and the vocational discipline of holding a position firmly without holding it arrogantly.

SYST 6063 credits

Advanced Integrative Theology and Ministry

A constructive treatment of one doctrine, engaging the biblical material, the historical formulations, and the strongest objection to your position.

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 AreaCreditsPurpose
Graduate Core217 courses. Required advanced theory, methods, and professional competencies of the discipline.
Graduate Specialization93 courses. Focused graduate study in an approved concentration or practice area.
Graduate Elective31 course. Any master-level major course from any school that is not already part of this degree plan.
Competency-Based Ministry Assessment31 course. Integrated graduate theological knowledge and assessed ministry experience, recognizing demonstrated learning across the published degree plan.
Total Degree Credits36All 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 Systematic 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.