Jo Wells

Joanne Caladine Bailey "Jo" Wells (née Bailey; born 1965) is a British Anglican bishop, theologian, and academic. Since 29 June 2016, she has been the Bishop of Dorking, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Guildford. Previously, she was a lecturer in the Old Testament and Biblical theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and then associate professor of Bible and Ministry at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. From 2013 until she fully took up her bishop's role on 25 September 2016, she had served as Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Wells was born in 1965. She studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and at the University of Minnesota. She trained for ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall, an Anglican theological college that is part of St John's College, Durham.

Ordained ministry

Wells was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1995 and as a priest in 1996. Between 1995 and 2001, she was part of the ministry team of Clare College, Cambridge. She served as chaplain from 1995 to 1998 and as dean from 1998 to 2001.

In February 2013, Wells was named as the next Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her first duty as chaplain was to carry the primatial cross at the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013.

On 24 March 2016, Wells was announced as the next Bishop of Dorking, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Guildford. She was consecrated a bishop (thereby taking up her appointment) on 29 June 2016 in Canterbury Cathedral.

Academic career

From 2001 to 2005, Wells was a lecturer in Old Testament and Biblical theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, an Anglican theological college. She also served as the college's pastoral tutor. From 2005 to 2012, she was an associate professor of Bible and Ministry at Duke Divinity School and Director of its Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.

Wells is married to Sam Wells, a Church of England priest. They have two children together; a son and a daughter.

• Wells, Jo Bailey (2000). God's holy people: a theme in Biblical theology. Sheffield: Sheffield University Press. ISBN 978-1841270968. 
• Killingray, Margaret; Wells, Jo Bailey (2000). Using the Ten Commandments. Cambridge: Grove Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1851744435. 
• Wells, Jo Bailey (2006). Isaiah: A Devotional Commentary for Study and Preaching. Oxford: Bible Reading Fellowship. ISBN 978-1841011516.