Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
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 Religious Studies 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.
Research interests
My research interests have centred around the evolution of medieval philosophy, theology and religious thought, within its cultural, political and social context. In particular, I have focussed on the thought and writings of both Peter Abelard and Heloise, and of their contemporaries in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, having edited Abelard’s Theologia and become a recognised authority on his life and thought. In the 1990s, I extended my interests beyond the schools to the visionary writings of Hildegard of Bingen, and the broader issue of intellectual activity outside a formal academic context. This led me to work on the impact of gender of religious thought and culture, editing a volume Listen Daughter about the Speculum virginum and the formation of religious women (2001), as well as into questions of eco-theology. My continuing research into Abelard drew my attention to the Epistolae duorum amantium and to the writing of The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard (1999), followed up by a joint intellectual biography, Abelard and Heloise, published in the series Great Medieval Thinkers, edited by Brian Davies with OUP, New York (2005). I was involved with Karen Green and Janice Pinder in completing an annotated translation of the Book of Peace of Christine de Pizan (Penn State, 2008), awarded a prize for a scholarly translated by the Modern Languages Association of America. While my research interests have expanded to comparative religion, financial ethics, and music theory, my major current writing project is a book, The Scholastic Revolution: Community, diversity and the invention of theology 1000-1300. Other team projects in which I am currently involved, include annotated editions and translations of medieval music theory medieval writings on ethics addressed to women, medieval encyclopaedias (involving collaboration with specialists in IT) and on Franciscan intellectual and religious culture—resulting in a range of journal articles and co-edited and co-authored publications.
Research area keywords
- Medieval
- Theology
- Faith
- Medieval Culture
- Religious Thought
- Medieval Philosophy
- Medieval Theology
- Medieval Intellectual Thought
- Medieval Music Theory
- Comparitive Religion
- Franciscan Culture
Network
Projects
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Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic: From Complaint to Advice
1/01/19 → 31/12/21
Project: Research
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Imagining Poverty: conceptualising and representing poverty and the poor in mendicant inspired literature, preaching and visual art 1220-1520
Mews, C., Howard, P., Pinder, J., Renkin, C., Scott, A. & Murray, P.
Australian Research Council (ARC), Dominican Province of the Assumption, Franciscan Friars Province of the Holy Spirit
1/07/11 → 31/12/16
Project: Research
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Ethics and encyclopaedic culture in 13th-century France: adaptation, diffusion and contexts of innovation in the Speculum morale and its sources
Mews, C. & Squire, D.
Australian Research Council (ARC)
4/01/10 → 30/04/14
Project: Research
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Religion, Finance and Ethics: Islamic and conventional perspectives on shared principles, practices, and financial institutions and instruments
Mews, C., Ariff, M., Saeed, A., Skully, M., Bakar, D. & Ghouse, A.
Australian Research Council (ARC), MacPherson + Kelley lawyers, Australian Financial Investment Group Ltd, Muslim Community Co-Operative (Australia) Ltd, Amanie Business Solutions Sdn. Bhd
4/05/07 → 31/03/12
Project: Research
Research output
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Monastic Theologies, c. 1050–1200
Mews, C., 2020, The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in The Latin West. Beach, A. I. & Cochelin, I. (eds.). Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Vol. 1-2. p. 697-709 13 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Introducing the Miroir des Dames
Mews, C., Green, K., Manuel, C. & Pinder, J., 1 Jan 2019, In : Revue d'Histoire des Textes. 14, p. 313-334 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › Research › peer-review
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Music and Dance
Mews, C. & Williams, C., 2019, A Cultural History of the Emotions: In the Medieval Age. Feros Ruys, J. & Mongale, C. (eds.). London UK: Bloomsbury Academic, Vol. 2. p. 49-63 15 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Songlines, sacred texts and cultural code: Between Australia and early medieval Ireland
Mews, C., 2019, Considering Religions, Rights and Bioethics: For Max Chrlesworth. Wong, P., Hutchings, P., Bloor, S. & Bilimoria, P. (eds.). Cham Switzerland: Springer, p. 201-217 17 p. (Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures; vol. 30).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
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Affectus in the De spiritu et anima and Cistercian writings of the Twelfth Century
Mews, C., 2018, Before Emotion: The Language of Feeling, 400-1800. Feros Ruys, J., Champion, M. W. & Essary, K. (eds.). 1st ed. New York NY USA: Routledge, p. 86-96 11 p. (Routledge Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
Prizes
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NSW Premier's Prize in Non-Australian History
Mews, Constant (Recipient), 2000
Prize: National/international honour
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The Algo and jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature by MLA
Mews, Constant (Recipient), 2009
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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Mindfulness and Somatic Intelligence
Constant Mews (Organiser)
14 Apr 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to workshop, seminar, course
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Elected President - Religious History Association
Constant Mews (Fellow)
2016Activity: External Academic Engagement › Professional association or peak discipline body
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Elected Corresponding Fellow
Constant Mews (Fellow)
2015Activity: External Academic Engagement › Professional association or peak discipline body
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Panel Member
Constant Mews (Fellow)
2014Activity: External Academic Engagement › Peer review panel or committee
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Universitatsklinikum Munster (UKM)
Constant Mews (Visiting researcher)
2010Activity: Visiting an external institution types › Visiting an external academic institution