In 1373 a young woman lies on her bed of sickness receiving her last rites; a crucifix is set before her that she might take comfort therein. Nonetheless, she does not depart from this world and instead, with her eyes turned towards the cross, she embarks on a ‘revelation of love – in sixteen showings.’1 The woman is known as Julian of Norwich, the name she took on when she went into her anchor hold. What we know of her comes entirely from her book The Revelations of Divine Love, in which she penned her visions, firstly in what is known as the ‘short text’ and then, after twenty to thirty years of contemplation, the ‘long text’ is produced, ‘filled with rich interpretations of what her showings meant.’2
The fourteenth century was a time of hardship, disease, disillusionment and corrupt power. Julian’s theology of hope went against all that was true of the world around her. Through the years of contemplation of the sixteen showings, she comes to the revelation that there is hope for everyone in every kind of sin. It is not a diminishing of sin and its consequences, but a realisation of the bigness of her God and the greatness of his work on the cross; the power of the blood that was able to reach even into hell.
In this article, I will argue that Julian of Norwich was able to form a theology of hope that was counter to her circumstances. Through these showings she receives revelations of God’s love for her and all humanity; the smallness of creation and the vastness of the Creator, and the complete work of the cross in regards to sin and salvation, all of which radically inform and, at times, transform her theology into one of eternal hope.
Download Julian of Norwich of Norwich – A Theology of Hope
[1]Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, 2.
[2]Maureen Walsh, “Re-imagining Redemption: Universal Salvation in the Theology of Julian of Norwich,” Horizons39 (2012): 189-207, p. 189.
This is amazing I defo want to read her book now xx
Posted by: Claire | May 24, 2018 at 01:13 PM