Staff profile

New book: The Life of Christian Doctrine (Bloomsbury, 2020)

In 1991, at the beginning of the third year of my undergraduate degree, I made a last-minute decision to switch from maths to theology – and I haven’t looked back since. I started my first teaching job in 1999 in Exeter’s Department of Lifelong Learning, overseeing evening classes in theology all over the South West from Truro to Yeovil, and developing distance learning courses. In 2005 I moved over to the Department of Theology, where I taught modern Christian theology and the history of Christian doctrine, and became became Head of Department in 2006. In 2010, I took up a three-year secondment to the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, to develop research programmes bringing together scholars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and helping develop associated public education projects.

My post in Durham is part of the University's Common Awards partnership with the Church of England and various ecumenical partners. I provide academic leadership for the University's validation of the Common Awards in Theology, Ministry and Mission offered in colleges and courses around the country, and for developing collaborative research projects that bring together people from the church and university sectors to discuss the future of theological education.

I am married to Hester, a copy editor and proof reader, and have two children, Jordan and Tom.

• Christian doctrine
• Postliberal theology
• Christology
• Anglican theology
• Theology of higher education

Authored book

• Higton, Mike (2020). The Life of Christian Doctrine. Bloomsbury.
• Muers, Rachel & Higton, Mike (2012). Modern Theology: A Critical Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Higton, Mike (2012). A Theology of Higher Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Higton, Mike & Muers, Rachel (2012). The Text in Play: Experiments in Reading Scripture. Cascade Books.
• Higton, Mike (2011). Deciding Differently: Rowan Williams' Theology of Moral Decision-Making. Cambridge: Grove Books.
• Higton, Mike (2008). Christian Doctrine. SCM.
• Higton, Mike (2007). Deliver Us: Exploring the Problem of Evil. Norwich: Canterbury Press.
• Higton, Mike (2006). Vulnerable Learning: Thinking Theologically about Higher Education. Cambridge: Grove Books.
• Higton, Mike (2004). Christ, Providence, and History: Hans W. Frei's Public Theology. London: T & T Clark.
• Higton, Mike (2004). Difficult Gospel: The Theology of Rowan Williams. London: SCM Press.

Chapter in book

• Higton, Mike (2022). Receiving Scripture Again from One Another. In Receptive Ecumenism as Transformative Ecclesial Learning. Oxford University Press. 383-392.
• Higton, Mike (2021). Lindbeck, Doctrine, and Reading. In Signs of Salvation: A Festschrift for Peter Ochs. James, Mark Randall & Rashkover, Randi Wipf and Stock. 223-234.
• Higton, Mike (2021). Doctrine and Prayer. In T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer. Cocksworth, Ashley & McDowell, John C. Bloomsbury. 123-137.
• Higton, Mike (2018). Rowan Williams. In The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology. Avis, Paul Oxford: Oxford University Press. 505-523.
• Higton, Mike (2018). 'Hans Frei, George Lindbeck and the Objectivity of Scripture'. In Essays on the Theology of Hans Frei. Hunsinger, George Rowman & Littlefield.
• Higton, Mike (2017). Education and the Virtues. In The Universities We Need: Theological Perspectives. Heap, Stephen Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 77-90.
• Higton, Mike (2016). Christian Doctrine and the Discipline of Reading Scripture. In Theologians on Scripture. Paddison, Angus London: Bloomsbury / T&T Clark. 93-104.
• Higton, Mike (2016). Faithful Improvisation or Talent Management? A Conversation Between the FAOC Report and the Green Report. In Faithful Improvisation? Theological Reflections on Church Leadership. Higton, Mike & Alexander, Loveday Church House.
• Higton, Mike (2016). Marriage, Gender, and Doctrine. In Thinking Again about Marriage. Bradbury, John & Cornwall, Susannah London: SCM Press. 14-28.
• Higton, Mike (2015). Reason. In The Routledge Companion to the Practice of Christian Theology. Higton, Mike & Fodor, Jim London: Routledge. 9-22.
• Higton, Mike (2015). Tradition. In The Routledge Companion to the Practice of Christian Theology. Higton, Mike & Fodor, Jim London: Routledge. 193-202.
• Higton, Mike & Ford, David (2015). Religious Literacy in the Context of Theology and Religious Studies. In Religious Literacy in Policy and Practice. Dinham, Adam & Francis, Matthew Bristol: Policy Press. 39-54.
• Higton, Mike (2013). Foreword. In The identity of Jesus Christ: the hermeneutical bases of dogmatic theology / by Hans W. Frei. Bowald, Mark Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock Publishers). xix-xxi.
• Higton, Mike (2013). The Theology of Tim Gorringe. In Theology and Human Flourishing: Essays in Honour of Timothy J. Gorringe. Higton, Mike, Rowland, Christopher & Law, Jeremy Wipf and Stock. 1-15.
• Higton, Mike (2013). For It’s Own Sake, For God’s Sake: Wisdom and Delight in the University. In The Vocation of Theology Today: A Festschrift for David Ford. Tom Greggs, Rachel Muers & Simeon Zahl Cascade. 289–302.
• Higton, Mike (2010). Adoptionism, Anhypostasia, Communicatio idiomatum, Hans Frei, Homoousios, Hypostatic Union, Hypostasis, Incarnation, and Neo-Chalcedonianism. In The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology. Ian A. McFarland, David A. S. Fergusson & Karen Kilby Cambridge University Press.
• Higton, Mike (2006). Hans Frei. In Christian Theologies of Scripture. Holcomb, Justin S. New York Univ Pr. 220 - 239.
• Higton, Mike (2004). The Fulfilment of History in Barth, Frei, Auerbach and Dante. In Conversing with Barth. McDowell, John & Higton, Mike Ashgate. 120-141.
• Higton, Mike (2003). English Popular Culture, Modern. In Jesus in History, Culture and Thought: An Encyclopedia. Houlden, Leslie ABC-Clio. 1 (A-J): 240-244.

Edited book

• Higton, Mike & Bowald, Mark Alan (2016). Hans Frei: Reading Faithfully: Writings from the Archives, 2: Frei's Theological Background. Wipf and Stock / Cascade.
• Higton, Mike & Alexander, Loveday (2016). Faithful Improvisation? Theological Reflections on Church Leadership. Church House.
• Higton, Mike & Fodor, Jim (2015). The Routledge Companion to the Practice of Christian Theology. Routledge Companions. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Higton, Mike & Bowald, Mark Alan (2015). Hans Frei: Reading Faithfully; Writings from the Archives, 1: Theology and Hermeneutics. Wipf and Stock (Cascade).
• Ford, David, Higton, Mike & Zahl, Simeon (2012). The Modern Theologians Reader. Chichester, West Sussex Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Higton, Mike, Law, Jeremy & Rowland, Christopher (2011). Theology and Human Flourishing: Essays in Honor of Timothy J. Gorringe. Cascade Books.
• McDowell, John C. & Higton, Mike (2004). Conversing with Barth. Barth studies. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Ford, David & Higton, Mike (2002). Jesus. Oxford readers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Journal Article

• Higton, Mike (2021). Kathryn Tanner and the Receptivity of Christ and the Church. Anglican Theological Review
• Higton, Mike, Kilby, Karen & Murray, Paul (2020). Introduction [to Special Issue: Receiving the Gift: Ecumenical Theological Engagements with John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift]. International Journal of Systematic Theology 22(1): 3.
• Higton, M.A. (2017). Teaching and Witness in the Life of the Church. Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal 1.2: 6-20.
• Higton, M.A. (2017). Discovering Virtue: How to be Good in Higher Education. Occasional Papers on Faith in Higher Education (3): 17-31.
• Higton, Mike (2015). A Response to Mark Randall James. Journal of Scriptural Reasoning 14(1): 1-4.
• Higton, Mike (2015). Apophaticism Transformed. Modern Theology 31(3): 511-516.
• Higton, Mike (2015). George Lindbeck and the Christological Nature of Doctrine. Criswell Theological Review 13(1): 47-61.
• Higton, Mike (2014). Reconstructing The Nature of Doctrine. Modern Theology 30(1): 1-31.
• Higton, Mike (2013). Theological Education between the University and the Church: Durham University and the Common Awards in Theology, Ministry and Mission. Journal of Adult Theological Education 10(1): 25-37.
• Higton, Mike (2013). Scriptural Reasoning and the Discipline of Christian Doctrine. Modern Theology 29(4): 120-137.
• Higton, Mike (2013). The Irrepressibility of Scripture: Psalm 1 Between Jews and Christians. Journal of Scriptural Reasoning 7(1).
• Higton, Mike (2013). Wisdom and Delight in the University. Journal of Beliefs & Values 34(3): 300-311.
• Higton, Mike (2011). The Ecclesial Body’s Grace: Obedience and Faithfulness in Rowan Williams. Ecclesiology 7(1): 7-28.
• Higton, Mike (2009). Criticism, Obedience and Exile: Theological Education as Religious and Secular. Theology 112(869): 323 - 332.
• Higton, Mike (2008). Rowan Williams and Sharia: Defending the Secular. International Journal of Public Theology 2(4): 400 - 417.
• Higton, Mike (2007). The Spirituality of Further Education. Journal of Chaplaincy in Further Education 3.
• Higton, Mike (2005). Read Mark and Learn. Journal of Scriptural Reasoning 5(3).
• Higton, Mike (2005). Can the University and the Church Save Each Other? Cross Currents 55(2): 172 - 183.
• Higton, Mike (2003). Boldness and Reserve: A Lesson from St Augustine. Anglican Theological Review 85(3): 447 - 456.
• Higton, Mike & Holmes, Stephen R. (2002). Meeting Scotus: On Scholasticism and its Ghosts. International Journal of Systematic Theology 4(1): 67 - 81.
• Higton, Mike (2002). The Research Assessment Exercise as Sin. Critical Quarterly 44(4): 40-45.
• Higton, Mike (2002). An American Theologian of History: Hans W. Frei in 1956. Anglican and Episcopal History 71(1): 61-84.
• Higton, Mike (1999). Hans Frei and David Tracy on the Ordinary and the Extraordinary in Christianity. Journal of Religion 79(4): 566-591.
• Higton, Mike (1999). "A Carefully Circumscribed Progressive Politics": Hans Frei's Political Theology. Modern Theology 15(1): 55 - 83.
• Higton, Mike (1997). Frei's Christology and Lindbeck's Cultural-Linguistic Theory. Scottish Journal of Theology 50(1): 83-95.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Higton, Mike (2016). Jesus: The How of God. Church Times (26 February 2017): 18-19.

Report

• Higton, Mike (2011). Towards a Church of England Vision for Higher Education. Church of England, Archbishops’ Council, Education Division.