Staff profile

As Vice-Principal of St Cuthbert’s Society, I work with Professor Tammi Walker, the Principal, to provide strategic and operational leadership. Founded in 1888, St Cuthbert’s (known locally as Cuth’s) began as an association of like-minded students and its history is marked by a pioneering and independent spirit. Today, in collaboration with colleagues and student leaders, our aim is to foster a culture and ethos in which all may flourish, stretched and supported, both intellectually and personally. This aspiration is reflected in our unique enrichment programme, Evergreen, launched in 2025.

My background encompasses roles in academic and charity settings. Before joining the University, I was a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Durham Cathedral, with responsibility for fundraising activity and key strategic partnerships, including as a member of the Board of UNESCO’s Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site. I co-led the delivery of many projects in the conservation of historic fabric and collections and, together with Professor Simon Oliver, launched and coordinated the work of Durham Cathedral Institute, a flagship public engagement initiative.

Originally from Northumberland, I returned to the North East in 2019 having held a portfolio of roles within the University of Oxford. Latterly, I was Acting Dean and Lecturer in Medieval Studies at Regent’s Park College, and Lecturer in Theology at St John’s College. Through visiting appointments at Ripon College (Cuddesdon), Sarum College (Salisbury), and the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology (Cambridge), I have also contributed to ongoing theological education, including through Durham’s Common Awards partnership and in the form of postgraduate research supervision.

Research

I work at the intersection of theology and history, especially the religious history of medieval England in its British and European contexts. My latest monograph, Blessed Mary and the Monks of England, brings to light contributions by England’s Benedictine and Cistercian communities to the development of Mariology – the field of theology dedicated to the Virgin Mary – in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Together with Marian doctrine and devotion, I have made a sustained study of the life and work of Anselm of Canterbury, a key monastic theologian of this period.

Informed by the past, my research encompasses contemporary issues and questions in theology, philosophy, and ethics. Arising from my work on monasticism, a long-held interest in the fundamental question of what makes a good life has led me to the modern moral philosopher, Iris Murdoch. A recent essay, ‘The Good Life: Iris Murdoch and Medieval Theology’, brings Murdoch into dialogue with Anselm and others, and I am currently working on a chapter, ‘Iris Murdoch and Christianity’, for a forthcoming handbook by Oxford University Press.

For more than a decade, I have also been a co-investigator on a programme of research in the field of restorative justice, an approach to harm and wrongdoing usually associated with penal reform. Partly grant-funded, this has produced a range of outputs: two international and interdisciplinary symposia, a special collection within the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, and a co-authored volume on the subject of forgiveness; in 2026, our latest output will be an edited collection of cross-cultural perspectives on restorative justice theory and practice in the UK and China. More widely, in 2024, I contributed to the production of a milestone report by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Remember Me: A Catholic Approach to Criminal Justice.

Authored book

• Blessed Mary and the Monks of England: Benedictines and Cistercians, 1000-1215
  
  Mills, M. J. (2024). Blessed Mary and the Monks of England: Benedictines and Cistercians, 1000-1215. The Catholic University of America Press.
• Forgiveness and Restorative Justice: Perspectives from Christian Theology
  
  Blyth, M. N., Mills, M. J., & Taylor, M. H. (2021). Forgiveness and Restorative Justice: Perspectives from Christian Theology. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter in book

• Encountering China: A Prolegomenon on Dialogue
  
  Mills, M. J. (in press). Encountering China: A Prolegomenon on Dialogue. In M. J. Mills & M. N. Blyth (Eds.), Restorative Justice in the UK and China: Encounters, Echoes, and Effects. Springer Nature.
• The Good Life: Iris Murdoch and Medieval Theology
  
  Mills, M. J. (2025). The Good Life: Iris Murdoch and Medieval Theology. In M. Leeson & F. White (Eds.), Iris Murdoch and the Western Theological Imagination (pp. 137-157). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-92261-9_7
• Preface
  
  Mills, M. J. (2023). Preface. In R. J. Maidment & M. J. Mills (Eds.), Keeper of the Word: The Virgin Mary in Anglican, Baptist and Catholic Dialogues (p. xvii-xxv). Oxford: Regent’s Park College.
• Mulierem fortem: The Marian Pattern of Christian Discipleship
  
  Mills, M. J. (2023). Mulierem fortem: The Marian Pattern of Christian Discipleship. In Keeper of the Word: The Virgin Mary in Anglican, Baptist and Catholic Dialogues (pp. 63-78). Regent’s Park College.
• Maria, gratia plena: Vision, Convergence and Controversy
  
  Mills, M. J. (2023). Maria, gratia plena: Vision, Convergence and Controversy. In Keeper of the Word: The Virgin Mary in Anglican, Baptist and Catholic Dialogues (pp. 133-140). Regent’s Park College.
• Miscellaneous (285 entries)
  
  Mills, M. J. (2022). Miscellaneous (285 entries). In A. Louth (Ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.
• Reframing the Narrative of Victimhood
  
  Mills, M. J. (2021). Reframing the Narrative of Victimhood (pp. 21-38). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75282-8_3
• Forgiving in the Presence of God
  
  Mills, M. J. (2021). Forgiving in the Presence of God (pp. 109-122). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75282-8_8
• Just Enough to Be Satisfied
  
  Mills, M. J. (2021). Just Enough to Be Satisfied (pp. 57-74). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75282-8_5
• Caritatis communionem: Reconciliation through an Ecumenism of Friendship
  
  Mills, M. J. (2020). Caritatis communionem: Reconciliation through an Ecumenism of Friendship. In A. Goodliff, A. Clarke, & B. Allison-Glenny (Eds.), Reconciling Rites: Essays in Honour of Myra N. Blyth. (pp. 224-40). Oxford: Regent’s Park College.

Edited book

• Restorative Justice in the UK and China: Encounters, Echoes, and Effects
  
  Mills, M. J., & Blyth, M. N. (Eds.). (in press). Restorative Justice in the UK and China: Encounters, Echoes, and Effects. Springer Nature.
• Keeper of the Word: The Virgin Mary in Anglican, Baptist and Catholic Dialogues
  
  Mills, M. J., & Maidment, R. J. (2023). Keeper of the Word: The Virgin Mary in Anglican, Baptist and Catholic Dialogues. Regent’s Park College, Oxford.

Journal Article

• A Vindication of Desire: St Anselm, with C. S. Lewis
  
  Mills, M. J. (2021). A Vindication of Desire: St Anselm, with C. S. Lewis. The Downside Review., 139(2), 133-44.
• In the Barque of Peter: St Anselm's Ecclesiology
  
  Mills, M. J. (2020). In the Barque of Peter: St Anselm’s Ecclesiology. The Saint Anselm Journal, 15(2), 97-114.
• Stephen of Sawley's Meditations on Our Lady's Joys and the Medieval History of the Rosary
  
  Mills, M. J. (2015). Stephen of Sawley’s Meditations on Our Lady’s Joys and the Medieval History of the Rosary. Cistercian Studies Quarterly, 50(4), 424-439.