Master of
Theology

This course engages salvation, the church, and last things through primary dogmatic and exegetical sources, focusing on contested debates such as justification and the millennium. Rather than asserting a position, students learn to defend one. The course addresses leaders who can state their tradition's view on these questions but have never built a scholarly argument for it. Students complete a graduate research paper defending a position on one soteriological or eschatological question, paired with a pastoral teaching plan for their own congregation — leaving with both doctrinal conviction and the ability to teach it responsibly.

This course studies the Old Testament as a unified theological corpus through the discipline of Old Testament theology — covenant, canon, and critical-introduction questions — engaging a major OT theology directly. It addresses leaders who know the Old Testament's storyline but have never engaged its theological and critical questions at a scholarly level. Students produce a graduate research paper on one Old Testament theological theme, along with a canon-wide teaching framework grounded in a major OT theology text, closing a real gap between narrative familiarity and theological depth.

This course studies the New Testament as a theological and historical corpus, adding New Testament theology and critical-introduction scholarship — questions of authorship, dating, and canon formation — at a research level. It addresses leaders who know New Testament content well but cannot engage the scholarly questions raised about its formation. Students complete a graduate research paper defending a position on one New Testament introduction question, along with a teaching guide applying the conclusion pastorally, building confidence to engage critical scholarship rather than avoid it.

This course requires Hebrew syntax proficiency, producing an original exegetical argument on grammatical grounds rather than lexical tools alone. It addresses graduates who can look up Hebrew words but cannot build an original syntactical case from the Hebrew text. Students complete a graduate-level Hebrew exegetical paper built on original syntactical analysis, concluding in a sermon or lesson for their own church — direct, independent engagement with the Hebrew Bible.

This course requires intermediate Greek grammar and syntax proficiency, moving students from lexical lookup to original syntactical argument. It addresses graduates who can look up Greek words but cannot construct an original argument from the Greek text itself. Students produce a graduate-level Greek exegetical paper built on original syntactical analysis, concluding in a teaching or preaching outline for real use — engaging the New Testament in its original language with genuine independence.

This course engages historical-Jesus scholarship and Gospel-harmonization method directly, producing a research-grade defense of the historical and theological Jesus. It addresses leaders unequipped to answer historical-Jesus skepticism or harmonization objections raised in academic and interfaith settings. Students complete a graduate research paper defending the historicity of one contested event in Christ's life — such as the resurrection — paired with an applied teaching or evangelistic brief. By the end, students can meet serious historical objections about Jesus with real scholarly grounding.

This course examines the philosophical schools of apologetic method — classical, evidentialist, and presuppositional — requiring students to defend one methodological position rather than simply reciting arguments. It addresses apologists who know the arguments but have never examined the assumptions behind them. Students produce a graduate research paper defending one apologetic method, applied through a worked case study of an actual objection from their own ministry setting — leaving with both a chosen method and the reasoning behind it.

This course requires engagement with Christian ethical theory — deontological, virtue, and natural-law frameworks — as the foundation for pastoral positions on today's most contested issues. It addresses leaders who hold correct positions on contemporary questions without a coherent ethical framework behind them. Students produce three graduate pastoral position papers, each grounded in an explicit ethical framework, addressing the most urgent contemporary issues in their own context — building both theological courage and pastoral gentleness.