Although born in Britain, I received my later secondary education and did my initial university studies in history (BA and MA) in Auckland, New Zealand. Subsequently, I did doctoral study at the University of Oxford, UK, followed by five years (1980-1985) teaching British civilisation at the Universite de Paris III, while pursuing my own studies in medieval thought (focusing on Peter Abelard) in connection with Jean Jolivet, at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes en sciences religieuses. This was followed as two years as a Leverhulme research fellow at the University of Sheffield, UK, working with Prof. David Luscombe, on editing the writings of Peter Abelard.
I came to Australia in July 1987, when I took up a position at Monash University as Lecturer in the Dept of History. Since then I have become involved in developing the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology and in promoting studies in religion more generally, with a strong interest in interfaith work. I have had spells of study at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, in 1990 and 2000, and at St John's College, Cambridge, and have also taught in Paris, at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes (Ve section) and in the Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales. Between 2009 and 2011, I was on the ARC College of Experts. My interests are in situating the history of medieval philosophy and religious thought, within the broader framework of medieval culture and society.
Mews, C., Crossley, J., Jeffreys, C., McKinnon, L., Williams, C., 2011, Johannes de Grocheio: Ars Musice, Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo MI USA.
Green, K., Mews, C. (eds), 2011, Virtue Ethics for Women 1250-1500, Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York.
Green, K.A.H., Mews, C.J., Pinder, J.M., 2008, The Book of Peace by Christine de Pizan, Penn State University Press, University Park PA.
Mews, C.J., 2005, Abelard and Heloise, Oxford University Press, New York USA.
Green, K., Mews, C.J. (eds), 2005, Healing the Body Politic: the Political thought of Christine de Pizan, Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium.
Mews, C.J. (ed), 2001, Listen daughter: the speculum virginum and the formation of religious women in the middle ages, Palgrave, New York NY USA.
Mews, C.J., Rigby, K.E. (eds), 1999, Ecology, Gender and the Sacred, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, Clayton Vic Australia.
Mews, C.J., Rigby, C.E. (eds), 1999, Ecology, Gender and the Sacred, Centre for Studies in Religion & Theology Monash, Clayton Vic Australia.
Mews, C.J., Chiavaroli, N., 1999, The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France, St Martin's Press, New York, MacMillan, London, New York USA London UK.
Mews, C., 2011, Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard, in A Companion to Bernard of Clairvaux, eds Brian Patrick McGuire, Brill, Netherlands, pp. 133-168.
Mews, C., 2011, Communities of learning and the dream of synthesis: the schools and colleges of thirteenth-century Paris, in Communities of Learning: Networks and the Shaping of Intellectual Identity in Europe 1100-1500, eds Constant J. Mews and John N. Crossley, Brepols, Belgium, Germany, pp. 109-135.
Mews, C., 2011, Introduction, in Communities of Learning: Networks and the Shaping of Intellectual Identity in Europe, 1100-1500, eds Constant J. Mews and John N. Crossley, Brepols, Turnout Belgium, pp. 1-7.
Green, K., Mews, C., 2011, Introduction, in Virtue Ethics for Women 1250-1500, eds Karen Green and Constant J. Mews, Springer Science+Business Media, Dordrecht, pp. ix-xix.
Mews, C., 2011, Questioning the music of the spheres in thirteenth-century Paris: Johannes De Grocheio and Jerome De Moravia Op, in Knowledge, Discipline and Power in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honour of David Luscombe, eds Joseph Canning, Edmund King and Martial Staub, Brill, Leiden The Netherlands, pp. 95-117.
Mews, C., 2011, The speculum dominarum (miroir des dames) and transformations of the literature of instruction for women in the early fourteenth century, in Virtue Ethics for Women 1250-1500, eds Karen Green and Constant J. Mews, Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, pp. 13-30.
Mews, C., Walsh, A., 2011, Usury and its critics: from the middle ages to modernity, in The Foundations of Islamic Banking: Theory Practice and Education, eds Mohammed Ariff and Munawar Iqbal, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham UK, pp. 211-221.
Mews, C.J., 2010, Celebrating a holy theft, in Imagination, Books and Community in Medieval Europe, eds Gregory Kratzmann, Macmillan Publishers Australia, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 241-245.
Ledsham, C., Mews, C., 2010, Franciscan thinking on charity, practical theology, and salvation 1270-1320, in Interpreting Francis and Clare of Assisi: From the Middle Ages to the Present, eds Constant J Mews and Claire Renkin, Broughton Publishing, Australia, pp. 152-208.
Mews, C., 2010, Heloise, in Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition, eds Alastair Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 267-289.
Mews, C.J., 2009, Cicero on friendship, in Friendship: A History, eds Barbara Caine, Equinox Publishing, London UK, pp. 65-72.
Mews, C.J., 2009, The Latin West, in Friendship: A History, eds Barbara Caine, Equinox Publishing, London UK, pp. 73-110.
Mews, C.J., 2009, William of Champeaux, Abelard and Hugh of Saint-Victor: platonism, theology and scripture in early 12th century France, in Bible und Exegese in der Abtei Saint-Victor zu Paris: Form und Funktion Eines Grundtextes im Europaischen Raum Herausgegeben von Rainer Berndt SJ, eds Rainer Berndt SJ, Aschendorff Verlag, Munster Germany, pp. 131-163.
Mews, C.J., 2009, Women readers in the age of Heloise, in Die Lesende Frau, eds Gabriela Signori, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden Germany, pp. 81-111.
Mews, C.J., 2008, New discoveries and insights (1999-2007), in The lost love letters of Heloise and Abelard, eds Constant J Mews and Neville Chiavaroli, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, pp. 179-202.
Mews, C.J., 2007, Abelard and Heloise on Jews and hebraica vertias, in Christian attitudes towards the Jews in the Middle Ages, eds Michael Frassetto, Routledge, London, pp. 83-108.
Mews, C.J., 2007, Scholastic Theology in a Monastic Milieu in the Twelfth Century: the case of Admont, in Manuscripts and the Monastic Culture, eds Alison I. Beach, Brepols, Turnhout, Belgium, pp. 217-239.
Mews, C.J., 2006, Faith as Existimatio rerum non apparentium: intellect, imagination and faith in the Philosophy of Peter Abelaard, in Intellect et imagination dans la Philosophie Medievale. Intellect and Imagination in Medieval Philosophy. Intelecto e imaginacao na Filosofia Medieval. Actes du Xe Congres International de Philosophie Medievale de la Societe Interantionale po, eds Maria Candida Pacheco and Jose F Meirinhos, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 915-926.
Mews, C.J., 2006, St Anselm and the development of philosophical theology in twelfth-century Paris, in Anselm and Abelard: investigations and juxtapositions, eds G E M Gasper and H Kohlenberger, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto Canada, pp. 196-222.
Mews, C.J., 2005, Accusations of heresy and error in the twelfth-century schools: the witness of Gerhoh of Reichersberg and Otto of Freising, in Heresy in transition. Transforming ideas of heresy in medieval and early modern Europe, eds Ian Hunter, John Christian Laursen, Cary J Nederman, Ashgate, Aldershot England, pp. 43-57.
Mews, C.J., 2005, Latin learning in Christine de Pizan's Livre de paix, in Healing the Body Politic: the Political Thought of Christine de Pizan, eds Karen Green and Constant J Mews, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 61-80.
Mews, C.J., 2005, Logica in the service of philosophy: William of Champeaux and his influence, in Schrift, Schreiber, Schenker. Studien zur Abtei Sankt Viktor in Paris und den Viktorinen, eds Herausgegben von Rainer Berndt, Akademie Verlag, Berlin Germany, pp. 77-117.
Mews, C.J., 2005, Postface, in La voix d'Heloise. Un dialogue de deux amants, eds No editor, Academic Press, Fribourg Switzerland, pp. 287-321.
Mews, C.J., 2005, The world as text: the Bible and the book of nature in twelfth-century theology, in Scripture and pluralism: reading the Bible in the religously plural worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, eds Thomas J Heffernan and Thomas E Burman, Brill, Leiden Netherland, pp. 95-122.
Mews, C.J., 2004, Encountering Hildegard: between Apocalypse and The New Age, in Maistresse of My Wit: Medieval Women, Modern Scholars, eds Louise D'Arcens and Juanita Feros Ruys, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 75-92.
Mews, C.J., 2004, Logic, rhetoric and the topics in the Middle Ages: Peter Abelard and Aristotelian tradition, in Die Lekture der Welt/Worlds of Reading: Zur Theorie, Geschichte und Soziolologie kultureller Praxis/On the Theory, History & Sociology of Cultural Practice. Festschrift fur Walter Veit/Festschrift for, eds Helmet Heinze and Christiane Weller, Peter Lang, Frankfurt Germany, pp. 33-44.
Mews, C.J., 2004, On some recent publications relating to Peter Abelard, in Archa Verbi: Yearbook for the Study of Medieval Theology 1, eds Anzulewicz, Henryk / Berndt S.J., Rainer / Dreyer,Mechthild u.a. (Hrsg.)., Aschendorff, Germany, pp. 119-127.
Mews, C.J., 2003, Heloise, the Paraclete Liturgy and Mary Magdalen, in The poetic and musical legacy of Heloise and Abelard, eds Marc Stewart and David Wulstan, The Institute of Mediaeval Music, Ottawa Canada, pp. 100-112.
Mews, C.J., 2003, Liturgy and identity at the Paraclete: Heloise, Abelard and the evolution of Cistercian reform, in The poetic and musical legacy of Heloise and Abelard, eds Marc Stewart and David Wulstan, The Institute of Medieval Music, Ottawa Canada, pp. 19-33.
Mews, C.J., 2003, Peter Abelard on dialectic, rhetoric, and the principles of argument, in Rhetoric and renewal in the Latin West 1100-1540. Essays in honour of John O Ward, eds Constant J Mews, Cary J Nederman and Rodney M Thomson, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 37-53.
Mews, C.J., 2002, Interpreting Abelard and Heloise in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The criticisms of Christine de Pizan and Jean Gerson, in Chemins de la pensee medievale. Etudes offertes a Zenon Kaluza, eds Paul J J M Bakker, Emmanuel Faye and Christophe Grellard, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 709-724.
Mews, C.J., 2001, Hildegard, visions and religious reform, in Im angesicht gottes suche der mensch sich selbst: Hildegard von Bingen 1098-1179, eds Herausgegeben von Rainer Berndt, Akademie Verlag, Berlin Germany, pp. 325-342.
Mews, C.J., 2001, Introduction, in Listen daughter: the speculum virginum and the formation of religious women in the middle ages, eds Constant J Mews, Palgrave, New York USA, pp. 1-14.
Mews, C.J., 2001, Virginity, theology, and pedagogy in the Speculum virginum, in Listen daughter: the speculum virginum and the formation of religious women in the middle ages, eds Constant J Mews, Palgrave, New York USA, pp. 15-40.
Mews, C.J., 2000, Hildegard, the speculum virginum and religious reform in the twelfth century, in Hildegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld, Verlag Philipp Von Zabern, Mainz Germany, pp. 237-267.
Mews, C.J., 2000, Monastic educational culture revisited: the witness of Zwiefalten and the Hirsau reform, in Medieval Monastic Education, Leicester University Press, London UK, pp. 182-197.
Mews, C.J., 2000, Philosophical themes in the Epistolae Duorum Amantium: the first letters of Heloise and Abelard, in Listening to Heloise: the voice of a twelfth-century woman, St Martin's Press, London UK, pp. 35-52.
Mews, C.J., Rigby, K.E., 1999, Introduction, in Ecology, Gender and the Sacred, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 1-13.
Mews, C.J., Rigby, C.E., 1999, Introduction, in Ecology, Gender and the Sacred, Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology Monash, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 1-13.
Mews, C.J., 1999, Themes philosophiques dans le Epistolae duorum amantium: Premieres lettres d'Heloise et d'Abelard?, in Langage, Sciences, Philosophie Au XIIe Siecle, VRIN, Paris France, pp. 23-38.
Mews, C.J., 1998, Peter Abelard and the Enigma of Dialogue, in Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia USA, pp. 25-52.
Mews, C.J., 1998, Religious Thinker: "A Frail Human Being" on Fiery Life, in Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, University of California Press, Berkeley USA, pp. 52-69.
Mews, C.J., 1997, The Trinitarian Doctrine of Roscelin of Compiegne and its Influence: Twelfth-century Nominalism and Theology Re-considered, in Languages et Philosophie.Hommages a Jean Jolivet, Vrin, Paris, pp. 347-364.
Mews, C., 2011, Gregory the Great, the rule of Benedict and Roman liturgy: the evolution of a legend, Journal of Medieval History [P], vol 37, issue 2, Elsevier, Netherlands, pp. 125-144.
Mews, C., Perry M., 2011, Peter Abelard, Heloise and Jewish Biblical Exegesis in the Twelfth Century, Journal Of Ecclesiastical History [P], vol 62, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, UK, pp. 3-19.
Mews, C., Monagle, C., 2010, Peter Lombard, Joachim of Fiore and the fourth Lateran Council, Medioevo (Padua): rivista di storia della filosofia medievale [P], vol 2010, Il Poligrafo, Padora, Italy, pp. 81-122.
Mews, C., 2010, Re-structuring the golden legend in the early fourteenth century: The Sanctilogium of guy of chatres, abbot of Saint-Denis, Revue Benedictine: de Critique, d'Histoire et de Litterature Religieuses [P], vol 120, issue 1, Abbaye de Maredsous, Denee, Belgium, pp. 129-144.
Mews, C.J., 2009, Liturgists and dance in the twelfth century: The witness of John Beleth and sicard of cremona, Church history [P], vol 78, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, pp. 512-548.
Mews, C.J., 2009, Singing the song of songs at the Paraclete. Abelard, Heloise and Gregory the Great on Mary Magdalen as lover and bride, Citeaux: Commentarii Cistercienses[P], vol 59, Citeaux VZW, Belgium, pp. 299-313.
Mews, C.J., 2008, Communautes de Savoirs: Ecoles et colleges a Paris au xiiie siecle, Revue de Synthese, vol 129, issue 4, Springer, Paris, pp. 485-507.
Mews, C.J., Jeffreys, C.M., McKinnon, L., Williams, C.J., Crossley, J.N., 2008, Guy of Saint-Denis and the Compilation of Texts about Music in London, British Library,Harl. MS. 281, Electronic British Library Journal, vol 2008, issue 6, British Library, London, pp. 1-34.
Mews, C.J., 2007, Cicero and the boundaries of friendship in the twelfth century, Viator, vol 38, issue 2, Brepols Publishers, Belgium, pp. 369-384.
Mews, C.J., Giraud, C., 2007, Le Liber pancrisis, un florileges des peres et des maitres moderns du XIIe siecle, Archivum latinitatis medii aevi, vol 64, Libraire Droz, Geneva, pp. 145-191.
Mews, C.J., Abraham, I.B., 2007, Usury and just compensation: Religious and financial ethics in historical perspective, Journal of Business Ethics, vol 72, issue 1, Springer Netherlands, Netherlands, pp. 1-15.
Mews, C.J., 2006, Negotiating the boundaries of gender in religious life: Robert of Arbrissel and Hersende, Abelard and Heloise, Viator, vol 37, Brepols, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 113-148.
Mews, C.J., 2004, Bernard of Clairveaux, Peter Abelard and Heloise on the definition of love, Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, vol 60, issue 3, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Braga Portugal, pp. 633-660.
Mews, C.J., 2002, Heloise and liturgical experience at the Paraclete, Plainsong and Medieval Music, vol 11, issue 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge England UK, pp. 25-35.
Mews, C.J., 2002, Manuscripts in Polish libraries copied before 1200 and the expansion of Latin Christendom in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Scriptorium, vol 56, issue 1, Brepols, Belgium, pp. 80-118.
Mews, C.J., 2002, The Council of Sens (1141): Abelard, Bernard and the fear of social upheaval, Speculum: a Journal of Medieval Studies, vol 77, issue 2, Medieval Academy of America, Cambridge USA, pp. 342-382.
Mews, C.J., 2001, Hugh Metel, Heloise, and Peter Abelard: the letters of an Augustinian canon and the challenge of innovation in twelfth-century Lorraine, Viator, vol 32, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout Belgium, pp. 59-91.
Mews, C.J., 2000, Abelard and Heloise: logic, love and desire, Analysis, vol 9, Australian Centre for Psycho-Analysis, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 37-57.
Mews, C.J., 2000, From Scivias to the Liber Divinorum Operum: Hildegard's Apocalyptic imagination and the call to reform, The Journal of Religious History, vol 24 issue 1, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford UK, pp. 44-56.
Mews, C.J., 1999, St Anselm and Roscelin of Compiegne: Some new texts and their implications. II A vocalist essay on the Trinity and intellectual debate c. 1080-1120, Archives D'Histoire Doctrinale et Litteraire du Moyen Age, vol 65, Vrin, Paris France, pp. 39-90.
Mews, C.J., 1999, The Philosophy of Peter Abelard by John Marenbon, English Historical Review, vol 144 issue 456, Oxford University Press, Oxford England, pp. 389-390.
Mews, C.J., 1998, Sergio Paolo Bonanni. Parlare della Trinita. Lettura della. Theologia scholarium di Abelardo, Cahiers de Civilisation Medievale, vol no 41, CESCM de l'Universite de Poitiers, Poitiers France, pp. 13-15.
Mews, C.J., 1997, The History of Western Ideas: Frameworks of Understanding, Agora, vol 32, History Teachers' Association of Victoria, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 41-47.
Mews, C.J., Walsh, A., 2009, Usury and its critics: From the middle ages to modernity, Proceedings of the Symposium: Islamic Banking and Finance: Global Perspective on Ethics and Financial Practices, 20 December 2008, National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Financial Practices, Bond Uni & Monash Uni, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 318-329.
Mews, C.J., 2004, The ambivalent image of Irish Christianity in Gerald of Wales, Between Intrusions: Britain and Ireland Between the Romans and the Normans, 04/09/2003-05/09/2003, The Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 141-157.
Mews, C.J., 2003, Les lettres d'amour perdues d'Heloise et la theologie de Pierre Abelard, Pierre Abelard. Colloque international de Nantes, 3-4 October 2001, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes France, pp. 137-159.
Mews, C.J., 1998, Hildegard and the Schools, Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art, London, UK 17-18 November 1995, The Warburg Institute, London UK, pp. 89-110.
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