Master of Arts (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)

Purpose

The Master of Arts (Archaeology and Biblical Studies) is a graduate level degree offering advanced work in classical archaeological disciplines: Archaeological Methods, Fieldwork, Archaeology, History and Backgrounds of Bible lands, and Ancient Biblical and Cognate Languages.

Entrance Requirements

The student must have an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum GPA of 3.0. The M.A.A.B.S. is built upon 42 hours of prerequisites which must be completed with a B- or better.

Course Title	Hours
Biblical Hermeneutics	3
Basic Old Testament I and II	6
Basic New Testament I and II	6
Biblical Greek I and II	6
Second Year Greek	6
Biblical Hebrew I and II	6
Hebrew Exegetical Method	3
Systematic Theology I and II	6
Total	42

* Undergraduate survey courses may range from three to six hours and fulfill the prerequisite if the course content is comparable to the Southwestern equivalent. Admitted students who have not satisfied the prerequisites must do so at the beginning of the program. The prerequisites may be fulfilled by taking bachelors-level courses in the Southwestern College program or master's-level courses in the Seminary program. Students must demonstrate proficiency in these courses before credit will be granted.

Degree Requirements

 

Course Title	Course Number	Hours
Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Formation I	SPFTH 3101	1
Spiritual Formation II	SPFTH 3111	1
Archaeology and Archaeological Method
Archaeology of Ancient Israel	ARCHE 3103	3
Archaeology of the New Testament World	ARCHE 3203	3
Archaeology of the Ancient Near East	ARCHE 3003 or	3
Archaeology and History of the Early Church	ARCHE 3303
Archaeological Field Excavation Methods	ARCHE 4203	3
Archaeological Practicum-Material Studies	ARCHE 4403	3
Archaeological Method and Theory	ARCHE 5103	3
Ceramic Analysis -- Syro-Palestine	ARCHE 5203	3
Biblical Backgrounds and History
Historical Geography of the Land of the Bible	BBHST 3333	3
History of Ancient Israel	BBHST 3413	3
History of the Second Temple Period	BBHST 3443	3
Social and Cultural Settings of Ancient Palestine	BBHST 4103	3
Social and Cultural Settings of Palestine during the Roman Period	BBHST 4203	3
Biblical and Cognate Languages
West Semitic Inscriptions	ANELG 5053	3
Aramaic	ANELG 5023 or	3
Ugaritic	ANELG 5033 or
Texts of Qumran	HEBRW 5043
Electives
Electives —		6
Taken from ANELG, ARCHE, BBHST, or others as approved by the director of the MAABS degree
Thesis
Graduate Research Seminar	RSTCH 5552	2
Thesis Research	MAABS 5001	1
Thesis	MAABS 5003	3
	Total	56

 

Non-Thesis Track

The non-thesis track is offered for students entering the Archaeology PhD program at Southwestern Seminary. Students not planning to apply/enter the PhD program in Archaeology at Southwestern are strongly advised to complete the thesis track. Students pursuing the non-thesis track must take two approved electives (6 hrs) to replace the (6) hours of the Graduate Research Seminar, thesis research, and thesis writing, as well as pass a comprehensive exam in the chosen major. The comprehensive exam will consist of three essay questions taken from the four field concentrations required in the MAABS: Archaeological Method (ARCHE), Bible Backgrounds & History (BBHST), Anthropology/ Social Settings (BBHST), and Biblical and Cognate Languages (ANELG, HEBRW). The student's advisor prepares and grades the exam.