ICAS-Accredited Degree Program
Doctor of Philosophy in World Religions
Ph.D. credential
Understand the beliefs of your neighbors and explore respectful conversation and Christian witness across religious traditions.
Doctor of Philosophy in World Religions: 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 World Religions is for those teaching comparative theology and leading interreligious engagement. You cannot answer a tradition you have only heard described by its opponents. Kingdom of Life University's ICAS-accredited program covers Islam, Judaism, the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, folk religion and organised unbelief, each presented as its adherents would recognise, alongside the methods that make comparison honest rather than merely polemical.
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 Philosophy in World Religions 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
- World Religions - Doctoral Competency-Based Ministry Assessment
- Credential
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in World Religions
- 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
Describe a religious tradition in terms its adherents would accept as fair
Identify genuine points of contact and genuine incompatibility between traditions
Apply a defensible comparative method rather than an intuitive one
Bear Christian witness in plural settings with integrity and respect
Learning Outcomes
Skills and competencies you will develop
Synthesize doctoral-level theological evidence, research judgment, and ministry wisdom for faithful leadership
Give an accurate account of a tradition's beliefs, texts, and practices
Compare two traditions on a shared question without distorting either
Analyse a case of interreligious encounter for what helped and what harmed
Design a witness approach appropriate to a specific plural context
Career Opportunities
Where this degree can take you
Intercultural ministry leader
Missionary
Interfaith engagement specialist
Theological educator
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
Scripture among scriptures: how Christians read their text, how other traditions read theirs, and what the differences in the concept of revelation imply.
Doctoral Seminar: Old Testament Theology
Israel among the nations — the Old Testament's own encounter with rival religions, and its two very different strategies of polemic and appropriation.
Doctoral Seminar: New Testament Theology
The New Testament's claims about Christ that make interreligious conversation genuinely difficult, stated clearly rather than softened.
Doctoral Seminar: Christian Doctrine
The doctrines at issue in any serious interreligious exchange: God's nature, sin, salvation, and the fate of those who never heard.
Doctoral Seminar: Islam and Christian Witness
Islamic belief, law, and practice across its main traditions, the historical encounter with Christianity, and the theological questions that divide and connect them.
Doctoral Seminar: Judaism and the Church
Judaism from Second Temple origins through rabbinic development to modern movements, and the church's long and often shameful record in relation to it.
Doctoral Seminar: Hindu Traditions
Hindu traditions in their textual, devotional, and philosophical variety, resisting the assumption that they form a single system.
Doctoral Seminar: Buddhist Traditions
Buddhist teaching and practice across Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, including its Western reception and the points of genuine contact and contrast.
Specialization Subjects
Six more that take the field into the places it actually gets used.
Doctoral Seminar: Folk and Traditional Religions
Indigenous and folk religious practice, ancestor veneration, and the way formal religious identity coexists with older local traditions.
Doctoral Seminar: Secularism and Unbelief
Secularity as a religious situation in its own right: disenchantment, the varieties of unbelief, and what it takes to be heard within them.
Doctoral Seminar: Comparative Theology and Method
How traditions are compared without flattening them: the methods of comparative theology and the errors that follow from bad comparison.
Doctoral Seminar: Witness in Plural Societies
Christian witness where several traditions live side by side, covering dialogue, hospitality, conversion, and the ethics of proselytism.
Doctoral Seminar: Spiritual Formation and Christian Vocation
Hospitality, friendship and integrity across religious difference, and the vocational question of witness that is neither aggressive nor evasive.
Doctoral Seminar: Integrative Theology and Ministry
A comparative study of one question across two traditions, using an explicit method and avoiding the standard distortions.
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 Philosophy
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 World Religions 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.