The Master of Arts in 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; Ancient Biblical and Cognate Languages.
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.
| Course Title | Hours |
| Biblical Hermeneutics | 3 |
| Basic Old Testament I and II | 6 |
| Basic New Testament I and II | 6 |
| Elementary Greek I and II | 6 |
| New Testament Greek I and II | 6 |
| Elementary 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 masters-level courses in the Seminary program. Students must demonstrate proficiency in these courses before credit will be granted.
| 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 - Taken from ANELG, ARCHE, BBHST, or others as approved by the | 6 | |
| director of the MAABS degree | ||
Thesis |
||
| Graduate Research Seminar | RSTCH 5552 | 2 |
| Thesis Research | MAABS 5001 | 1 |
| Thesis | MAABS 5003 | 3 |
| Total | 56 | |