ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Biblical Studies in Theological Education
D.B.S. credential
Develop your approach to teaching Christian theology and helping others connect biblical understanding with a life of service.
Doctor of Biblical Studies in Theological Education: 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 Theological Education is for faculty and administrators shaping whole programmes. Teaching theology badly produces graduates who can pass exams and cannot minister. This ICAS-accredited Kingdom of Life University program covers what theological education is for, how adults actually learn, course and curriculum design, assessment that changes student work, distance delivery, and teaching learners whose educational formation is not like yours.
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 Biblical Studies in Theological Education 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
- Theological Education - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Biblical Studies (D.B.S.) in Theological Education
- 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
State the aims by which a theological programme should be judged
Design courses backwards from outcomes rather than forwards from content
Assess learning in ways that are valid and that change student work
Teach learners whose educational formation differs from your own
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Produce a course design with aligned outcomes, activities, and assessment
Write assessment tasks and rubrics that discriminate between levels of work
Adapt a residential course for effective distance delivery
Evaluate a programme against its stated formational aims
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Seminary or Bible college instructor
Theological education administrator
Curriculum designer
Church-based teaching pastor
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
Teaching students to interpret rather than to reproduce your interpretation, which is the hardest thing to assess and the whole point.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
The Old Testament's models of instruction, and what a tradition transmitted largely by repetition and festival implies about method.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament on teachers and teaching, including the warnings attached to the office.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
Doctrine as a subject to be taught, including the sequence in which it can be learned rather than the order in which it is usually listed.
Doctoral Seminar: Aims of Theological Education
What theological education is for, covering the competing accounts of formation, scholarship, and ministerial preparation and the tensions between them.
Doctoral Seminar: Teaching and Learning Theory
How adults learn, covering the evidence on retention, practice, feedback, and the persistent gap between lecturing and learning.
Doctoral Seminar: Course and Curriculum Design
Designing courses and curricula backwards from outcomes, covering alignment, sequence, workload, and the coherence of a whole programme.
Doctoral Seminar: Assessment and Feedback
Assessment that measures what matters, covering task design, rubrics, feedback that changes work, and academic integrity in an age of generated text.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Distance Theological Education
Teaching at a distance, covering cohort formation, synchronous and asynchronous balance, and what formation requires that a screen makes harder.
Doctoral Seminar: Formation Alongside Instruction
Formation alongside instruction, covering mentoring, supervised practice, community life, and assessment of character where it is legitimate.
Doctoral Seminar: Teaching in Cross-Cultural Settings
Teaching across cultures, covering language, educational background, honour dynamics in the classroom, and curriculum that is not simply imported.
Doctoral Seminar: Faculty Life and Scholarship
Faculty life, covering scholarship alongside teaching load, supervision, institutional service, and sustainable academic vocation.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Formation alongside instruction, which is what distinguishes theological education from a course of study in religion.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A course or programme designed with aligned outcomes, taught, assessed, and evaluated against its formational aims.
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 Biblical Studies
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 Theological Education 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.