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XVI Revelations of Divine Love Shewed to Mother Juliana of Norwich 1373
""WHAT! Wouldst thou wit thy Lord's meaning in this thing? "-Tit it well: Love was His meaning. Who shewed it thee? Love. Wherefore shewed He it thee? For Love. Hold thee therein, and thou shalt wit it more in that same. But thou shalt never wit therein other without end." Indeed God is Love as Saint Teresa Margaret learned a century later. Let us consider the 16 revelations that are expounded in this work: THIS is a Revelation of Love, that Jesu Christ our endless blisse made in xvi. shewings: of which, The first is of his precious crowning of thornes, and therein was conteined and specified the blessed Trinity, with the incarnation and the uniting between God and mans soul, with manie faire shewings and teachings of endeless .wisdom and love: in which all the shewings that follow be grounded and joyned. The second, is of the discolouring of his faire face, in tokening of his dear worthie passion. The third is, that our Lord God Almighty, all wisdom and an love, right also verilie as he hath made all thinges that are right, also verilie he doth and worketh all things that are done. The fourth is, scourging of his tender bodie with plenteous shedding of his precious blood. The fifth is, that the fiend is overcome by the precious passion of Christ. The sixth is, the worshipfull thanking of our Lord God, in which he rewardeth all his blessed servants in heaven. The seventh is, oftentimes feeling of weale and woe. Feeling of weale is gracious touching and lightning, with true sikernes of endeles joy; the feeling of woe is of temptation by heavines, and wearines of our fleshlie living with ghostelie understanding, that we be kept also verelie in love, in woe as in weal, by the goodnes of God. The eighth is, the last paines of Christ and his cruell dying. The ninth is, of the liking which is in the blessed Trinity of the hard passion of Christ after his rufull and sorrowful dying: in which joy and liking he will that we be in solace and mirth with him, till that we come to the glorie in heaven. The tenth is, our Lord Jesu Christ [shewing] by love his blessed heart even cloven in two. The eleventh is, an high ghostlie shewing of his deare worthie Mother. The twelth is, that our Lord God is all sovereign being. The thirteenth is, that our Lord God will that we have great regard to all the deedes which he hath done, in the great nobletie of all things making, and of the excellency of mans making, the which is above all his works; and of the precious amends that he hath made for mans sin, turning all our blame into endeles worship. Than meaneth he thus, Beholde and see, for by the same might, wisdome and goodness that have done all this, by the same might, wisdome and goodness I shall make well all that is not well, and thou shalt see it.' And in this he will that we keep us in the faith and truth of Holie Church, not willing to wit his privities, not but as it longeth to us in this life. The fourteenth is, that our Lord God is the ground of our beseekinge. Herein was seen two fair properties: that one is rightful praier: that other is verie trust, which he will both be one like [alike] large, and thus our praier liketh him, and he of his goodness fulfilleth it. The fifteenth is, that we should soudeinlie be taken from all our paine, and from all our woe, and of his goodnes we shall come up above, where we shall have our Lord Jesu to our meed, and for to be fulfilled with joy and blisse in heaven. The sixteenth is, that the blessed Trinitie, our maker, in Christ Jesu our Saviour, end leslie dwelleth in our soule, worshipfullie rewarding and commanding all things, His mightilie and wiselie saving and keeping for love, and we shall not be over-come of our enemy.
254 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1393
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About the author
Julian of Norwich
48 books260 followersJulian of Norwich was the most important English mystic of the 14th century. Her spirituality is strongly Trinitarian and basically Neoplatonic.
In her Revelations of Divine Love Julian relates that in May 1373, when she was 30 years old, she suffered a serious illness. After she had been administered extreme unction, she received 16 revelations within the span of a few hours. When she wrote her Revelations, she was a recluse at Norwich, supported by the Benedictine convent of Carrow. Anchorite seclusion was a rather common form of life in 14th-century England among Christians with high spiritual aspirations. A woman of little formal education - she calls herself "unlettered" - Julian writes in a beautifully simple style and shows a solid grasp of traditional theology.
Julian's revelations, a mixture of imaginary and intellectual visions, bear all the characteristics of true mysticism. According to her, her visions came in fulfillment of three petitions of her youth: to have in mind the Passion of Christ, to have a critical bodily sickness at 30 years of age, and to receive the wounds of "true contrition," "genuine compassion," and "sincere longing for God." The revelations consist mostly of visions of the crucified Christ occasioned by the sight of a crucifix which the priest had left at her bedside. But through the Passion, Julian is led to intellectual visions of the Trinity and of the universe as it exists in God. Thus she is confronted by the teachings of sin and damnation, which she finds hard to reconcile with God's grace in Christ. Nevertheless the accepts the traditional Church doctrine of the existence of an eternal rejection. Yet on the sinfulness of those who will be saved she hedges: "In every soul to be saved is a godly will that has never consented to sin, in the past or in the future. Just as there is an animal will in our lower nature that does not will what is good, so there is a godly will in our higher part, which by its basic goodness never wills what is evil, but only what is good." Obviously she finds herself unable to accept that divine goodness could ever allow the elect to be truly sinful. Her fundamental outlook is optimistic. The Lord tells her: "All shall be well," and "You will see for yourself that all manner of thing shall be well."
Little is known of Julian's later years, not even the date of her death. She is last referred to as a living person in a will dated 1416. Apparently even during her life she enjoyed a certain renown, for people came from afar to see and consult her.
Further Reading
There are two versions of the Revelations, one much longer than the other. It is not known whether the short one is merely an excerpt from the older one or whether it is the first authentic report on which Julian elaborated in the longer version. A critical edition is being prepared by Sister Anna Maria Reynolds and James Walsh. Meanwhile, a modernized edition of the short version is A Shewing of God's Love (1958) by Anna Maria Reynolds. Several modern translations of the longer version, under the title Revelations of Divine Love, are by Roger Hudleston (1927), James Walsh (1961), Anchoret Juliana (1966), and Clifton Wolters (1966). Important studies of Julian are Paul Molinari, Julian of Norwich: The Teaching of a 14th Century English Mystic (1958), and James Walsh, ed., Pre-Reformation English Spirituality (1966).
In her Revelations of Divine Love Julian relates that in May 1373, when she was 30 years old, she suffered a serious illness. After she had been administered extreme unction, she received 16 revelations within the span of a few hours. When she wrote her Revelations, she was a recluse at Norwich, supported by the Benedictine convent of Carrow. Anchorite seclusion was a rather common form of life in 14th-century England among Christians with high spiritual aspirations. A woman of little formal education - she calls herself "unlettered" - Julian writes in a beautifully simple style and shows a solid grasp of traditional theology.
Julian's revelations, a mixture of imaginary and intellectual visions, bear all the characteristics of true mysticism. According to her, her visions came in fulfillment of three petitions of her youth: to have in mind the Passion of Christ, to have a critical bodily sickness at 30 years of age, and to receive the wounds of "true contrition," "genuine compassion," and "sincere longing for God." The revelations consist mostly of visions of the crucified Christ occasioned by the sight of a crucifix which the priest had left at her bedside. But through the Passion, Julian is led to intellectual visions of the Trinity and of the universe as it exists in God. Thus she is confronted by the teachings of sin and damnation, which she finds hard to reconcile with God's grace in Christ. Nevertheless the accepts the traditional Church doctrine of the existence of an eternal rejection. Yet on the sinfulness of those who will be saved she hedges: "In every soul to be saved is a godly will that has never consented to sin, in the past or in the future. Just as there is an animal will in our lower nature that does not will what is good, so there is a godly will in our higher part, which by its basic goodness never wills what is evil, but only what is good." Obviously she finds herself unable to accept that divine goodness could ever allow the elect to be truly sinful. Her fundamental outlook is optimistic. The Lord tells her: "All shall be well," and "You will see for yourself that all manner of thing shall be well."
Little is known of Julian's later years, not even the date of her death. She is last referred to as a living person in a will dated 1416. Apparently even during her life she enjoyed a certain renown, for people came from afar to see and consult her.
Further Reading
There are two versions of the Revelations, one much longer than the other. It is not known whether the short one is merely an excerpt from the older one or whether it is the first authentic report on which Julian elaborated in the longer version. A critical edition is being prepared by Sister Anna Maria Reynolds and James Walsh. Meanwhile, a modernized edition of the short version is A Shewing of God's Love (1958) by Anna Maria Reynolds. Several modern translations of the longer version, under the title Revelations of Divine Love, are by Roger Hudleston (1927), James Walsh (1961), Anchoret Juliana (1966), and Clifton Wolters (1966). Important studies of Julian are Paul Molinari, Julian of Norwich: The Teaching of a 14th Century English Mystic (1958), and James Walsh, ed., Pre-Reformation English Spirituality (1966).
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January 24, 2015
"And I saw quite certainly in this and in everything that God loved us before he made us; and his love has never diminished and never shall. And all of his works were done in this love; and in this love he has made everything for our profit; and in this love our life is everlasting."
I don't know what sort of criteria one should use to rate this book, so I'm not going to attempt it. I approached it from the perspective of an agnostic leaning towards atheist, and I came out of my reading experience realizing that the reason I was so unshakably stuck in this position, unable to even consider the possibility of personal belief, is because I was looking at faith in the wrong way. The conservative God of the political right-wing and the forced church attendance of my childhood were never going to have any spiritual impact on me. But a God of love, discovered on my own terms, could and would.
Thinking of God as existing -- not in epistemological terms but in spiritual terms -- in human manifestations of love (family, friends, and the man Jesus) had a powerful effect. So many times, Julian would mention that sin and times of suffering only exist to help bring the sufferer into the fold of God's love, which is stronger and outlasts all suffering. It has been a miserable year for me and I picked this book up not understanding why I did. As I read it, I felt my anxiety relax -- this while standing in the bookstore on a browse trip, even before the realization that a part of me might be susceptible to actual, genuine belief.
I still believe that faith or lack of faith is a highly personal feeling, so it is not something I plan to talk about too much beyond this review. But I will say that personally, I didn't realize how much of an impact this book and #22 in particular had on me:
For although the dear humanity of Christ could only suffer once, his goodness makes him always ready to do so again; he would do it every day if it were possible; and if he said that for love of me he would make new heavens and a new earth, it would be but little in comparison, for he could do this every day if he so wished, without any hardship; but to offer to die for love of me so often that the number of times passes human comprehension, that is the most glorious present that our Lord God could make to a man's soul, it seems to me.
Until I went to church willingly this morning for the first time in years, just to see if it felt differently, and it was so moving to be there after internalizing all of these things (maybe even believing them for once in a rare while) that I almost cried.
Time will tell if this reaction stands. Being naturally skeptical, I'm sort of inclined to chalk up these new feelings to Julian's hypnotically lovely prose rather than any real faith. But again, as I type this and think about the book, my usually tense body is calm. So I don't know.
Read
September 3, 2019From about four in the morning until nine on the eighth of May 1373, Julian of Norwich, then thirty years old, sick and believing herself to be near to death, had a series of visions of Christ. After this she had a vision of the Devil (he had tile red skin, dark freckles, red hair, white teeth and smelt terrible ) before seeing Christ again that night and then the Devil again (who upon departing left only his awful stink behind him). It then took her between fifteen years and twenty years, less three months, to come to an understanding of the meaning of the visions that she experienced. At some point she then presumably dictated the book that we can read today.
Julian's visions as spiritual literature don't seem to have been particularly well known in the middle ages. It survives in one manuscript of a short version and three manuscripts of a long version, the oldest of which dates from the fifteenth century. However Julian as a person who had visions was well enough known in her own lifetime for Margery Kempe to seek her out and visit her. The book's wide availability today probably reflects its very domestic spirituality, its joyful message, and its almost complete lack of personal or contemporary detail while might serve to alienate and distance a reader.
Julian is associated with Norwich. In the fourteenth century this was one of England's largest towns. She lived there at a time of on going war with France and occasional outbreaks of the plague, but none of this intrudes on what she has to say. We don't know if she was married, or a mother, owned land or practised a craft or even where she was born. The whole narrative is at once completely personal, focused on her experience of seeing Christ, and yet at the same time striped of all personal details to the point that she is not just an everywoman but in effect an anybody, my reading of The Hollow Crown to give me some context beforehand turned out to be of no advantage except for showing how disconnected Julian's story appears on a casual reading to be from her cultural and social surroundings .
There are a couple of partial exceptions to this timelessness in the 170 odd pages of this printed edition, such as an extended metaphor of Christ and Adam as master and servant and a single reference to saint John of Beverley who is the only British saint she mentions . Apart from that, the personal and social context has been almost entirely stripped away to give us Julian and her sense of revelation.
The text plunges us straight into her visions. This produces a curious, intense effect that is also imprecise, disembodied and abstract. For most of the book we are apparently with her while she has a series of visions from the moment that a Priest, called to her bedside, holds up a crucifix and she begins to see it bleeding. At the same time she is not just narrating what she saw but telling us what she understood those visions to mean even though that understanding was only reached many years after the initial experience. This very literary choice on her part creates immediacy for the reader, but is entirely artificial. Looking back on reading it it is not even always entirely clear, as with the vision of being under the sea and seeing the stones there all covered with green moss, what she saw on that morning of the 8th of May and what she saw at some later date. Clearly that kind of a distinction was not what she aimed to achieve.
While towards the end of the work she says "This place is a prison, and this life a penance" (p.200) and "We are nothing but sin and wretchedness" (p.201) this runs counter to the force of her experience which was of overwhelming faith in God in the person of Jesus and his love. Jesus is father and mother and brother for her. She has a nice description of Christ as a mother watching their child stumble as they learn to walk, or in a slightly more bloody image the wound in Christ's side from the crucifixion allows the Christian to enter into God, which is likened to the intimacy and love of a mother breast feeding her child . The two spiritual sicknesses that Julian feels are important are sloth or impatience - in the form of making heavy weather of hardship and suffering and despair. Against this she experiences God comforting her by telling her 'you shall not be overcome'.
Faith is at the centre of her experience at one point In my foolish way I had often wondered why the foreseeing wisdom of God could not have prevented the beginning of sin, for then, thought I, all would have have been well (p.103) The answer is of course that "Sin was necessary" and she feels the problem that Ivan raises in The Brothers Karamazov "we see deeds done that are so evil, and injuries inflicted that are so great, that it seems to us quite impossible that any good can come of them" (p.109). The answer again is faith. That everything will be clear in Heaven. Since Julian's emphasis is on the compassion and love of God, her experience is of a joyful message. God in Julian's vision is not angry and wrathful, but loving.
Although she was an Anchorite , Julian's spirituality as revealed in this book is entirely domestic. It does not require monastic retreat, pilgrimage, good works or even a hair shirt. It is something that can apparently be lived in any circumstances by anybody. This is a revelation of the power of faith in giving a person confidence and joy in their life. It is more of a piece with later forms of Christian spiritual life, Luther's salvation by faith alone comes to mind, and is a long way from the angry saints of an earlier age always out to punish those who were insufficiently respectful towards them, or the need to flee the world for a desert place to suffer for salvation of the desert fathers or even the Cistercians who could not bare to set up one of their monasteries within hearing of the bells of another monastery. By contrast here Christ and the Devil come to Julian while she is in bed. It could hardly be more homely.
There are some particularly striking moments. Julian seeing all that God has created as a tiny thing, the size of a hazelnut, in Jesus' hand. Later the soul located in her heart is by contrast as large as an eternal kingdom and ruled over by Christ, while Christ's thirst to have everyman inside himself is so great that God is continuously drinking, drawing all in.
I wouldn't recommend this particular edition which is a translation into modern English, I'd look out for a version with the original text and a translation on the facing page if there is such a thing. The introduction didn't strike me as helpful with it's discussion of her heresy without any attempt to put Julian in her religious context. Also my second hand copy, sold for six shillings in 1966, split in two while I was reading it, there's no life in these short lived paper books compared with a decent work in vellum!
Julian's visions as spiritual literature don't seem to have been particularly well known in the middle ages. It survives in one manuscript of a short version and three manuscripts of a long version, the oldest of which dates from the fifteenth century. However Julian as a person who had visions was well enough known in her own lifetime for Margery Kempe to seek her out and visit her. The book's wide availability today probably reflects its very domestic spirituality, its joyful message, and its almost complete lack of personal or contemporary detail while might serve to alienate and distance a reader.
Julian is associated with Norwich. In the fourteenth century this was one of England's largest towns. She lived there at a time of on going war with France and occasional outbreaks of the plague, but none of this intrudes on what she has to say. We don't know if she was married, or a mother, owned land or practised a craft or even where she was born. The whole narrative is at once completely personal, focused on her experience of seeing Christ, and yet at the same time striped of all personal details to the point that she is not just an everywoman but in effect an anybody, my reading of The Hollow Crown to give me some context beforehand turned out to be of no advantage except for showing how disconnected Julian's story appears on a casual reading to be from her cultural and social surroundings .
There are a couple of partial exceptions to this timelessness in the 170 odd pages of this printed edition, such as an extended metaphor of Christ and Adam as master and servant and a single reference to saint John of Beverley who is the only British saint she mentions . Apart from that, the personal and social context has been almost entirely stripped away to give us Julian and her sense of revelation.
The text plunges us straight into her visions. This produces a curious, intense effect that is also imprecise, disembodied and abstract. For most of the book we are apparently with her while she has a series of visions from the moment that a Priest, called to her bedside, holds up a crucifix and she begins to see it bleeding. At the same time she is not just narrating what she saw but telling us what she understood those visions to mean even though that understanding was only reached many years after the initial experience. This very literary choice on her part creates immediacy for the reader, but is entirely artificial. Looking back on reading it it is not even always entirely clear, as with the vision of being under the sea and seeing the stones there all covered with green moss, what she saw on that morning of the 8th of May and what she saw at some later date. Clearly that kind of a distinction was not what she aimed to achieve.
While towards the end of the work she says "This place is a prison, and this life a penance" (p.200) and "We are nothing but sin and wretchedness" (p.201) this runs counter to the force of her experience which was of overwhelming faith in God in the person of Jesus and his love. Jesus is father and mother and brother for her. She has a nice description of Christ as a mother watching their child stumble as they learn to walk, or in a slightly more bloody image the wound in Christ's side from the crucifixion allows the Christian to enter into God, which is likened to the intimacy and love of a mother breast feeding her child . The two spiritual sicknesses that Julian feels are important are sloth or impatience - in the form of making heavy weather of hardship and suffering and despair. Against this she experiences God comforting her by telling her 'you shall not be overcome'.
Faith is at the centre of her experience at one point In my foolish way I had often wondered why the foreseeing wisdom of God could not have prevented the beginning of sin, for then, thought I, all would have have been well (p.103) The answer is of course that "Sin was necessary" and she feels the problem that Ivan raises in The Brothers Karamazov "we see deeds done that are so evil, and injuries inflicted that are so great, that it seems to us quite impossible that any good can come of them" (p.109). The answer again is faith. That everything will be clear in Heaven. Since Julian's emphasis is on the compassion and love of God, her experience is of a joyful message. God in Julian's vision is not angry and wrathful, but loving.
Although she was an Anchorite , Julian's spirituality as revealed in this book is entirely domestic. It does not require monastic retreat, pilgrimage, good works or even a hair shirt. It is something that can apparently be lived in any circumstances by anybody. This is a revelation of the power of faith in giving a person confidence and joy in their life. It is more of a piece with later forms of Christian spiritual life, Luther's salvation by faith alone comes to mind, and is a long way from the angry saints of an earlier age always out to punish those who were insufficiently respectful towards them, or the need to flee the world for a desert place to suffer for salvation of the desert fathers or even the Cistercians who could not bare to set up one of their monasteries within hearing of the bells of another monastery. By contrast here Christ and the Devil come to Julian while she is in bed. It could hardly be more homely.
There are some particularly striking moments. Julian seeing all that God has created as a tiny thing, the size of a hazelnut, in Jesus' hand. Later the soul located in her heart is by contrast as large as an eternal kingdom and ruled over by Christ, while Christ's thirst to have everyman inside himself is so great that God is continuously drinking, drawing all in.
I wouldn't recommend this particular edition which is a translation into modern English, I'd look out for a version with the original text and a translation on the facing page if there is such a thing. The introduction didn't strike me as helpful with it's discussion of her heresy without any attempt to put Julian in her religious context. Also my second hand copy, sold for six shillings in 1966, split in two while I was reading it, there's no life in these short lived paper books compared with a decent work in vellum!
June 11, 2020
This reading was really special, at first i was curious and I decided to read this book because I really liked the cover only, found it in my father’s bookshelves... I had no precise reason for a book with such a unique subject, as can be the mystical revelations of the Saints.
Instead, the revelations and commented words are very smooth, so the reading is likable and never verbose.
The contemplation of the Beatitude of our Lord Jesus Christ.... all the theme on which the revelations relate, and the grace that faith can give, when in every circumstance, even the most adverse, is a sign that everything is for a greater good. The Passion and death of Christ, others are not to defeat the nowadays material condition of our life. Death will not be the last word on us, but a sign of a total belonging of man to his creator, who, by dying for us, has given to us an eternal salvation.
For a not believer these words can only seem a blasphemy or a shame, for those who see in Christ, the eternal salvation of our living, are a sign of a total love of our miserable and sinful condition of life. In the mystery we will find eternal salvation....
Questa lettura è stata veramente particolare, primo, ho deciso di leggere questo libro unicamente perchè mi piaceva moltissimo la copertina, scovato nella libreria di mio padre.... non avevo un preciso motivo per un libro con un argomento così unico, come lo possono essere le rivelazioni mistiche dei Santi.
Invece le rivelazioni e le parole commentate sono molto scorrevoli, quindi la lettura risulta piacevole e mai prolissa.
La contemplazione della Beatitudine di nostro signore Gesù Cristo. , tutto qui il tema su cui vertono le rivelazioni, e la grazia che la Fede può dare, quando in ogni circostanza, anche la più avversa, è segno che tutto è per un bene più grande. La Passione e la morte del Cristo, altri non sono per sconfiggere il qui ed ora materiale del nostro vivere. La morte non sarà l' ultima parola su di noi, ma segno di una appartenenza totale dell' uomo al suo creatore, che morendo per noi ci ha donato una salvezza eterna.
Per un non credente queste parole possono solo sembrare una bestemmia o una vergogna, per chi vede nel Cristo, la salvezza eterna del nostro vivere, sono segno di un amore totale della nostra condizione misera e peccatrice di vita. Nel mistero troveremo la salvezza eterna....
Instead, the revelations and commented words are very smooth, so the reading is likable and never verbose.
The contemplation of the Beatitude of our Lord Jesus Christ.... all the theme on which the revelations relate, and the grace that faith can give, when in every circumstance, even the most adverse, is a sign that everything is for a greater good. The Passion and death of Christ, others are not to defeat the nowadays material condition of our life. Death will not be the last word on us, but a sign of a total belonging of man to his creator, who, by dying for us, has given to us an eternal salvation.
For a not believer these words can only seem a blasphemy or a shame, for those who see in Christ, the eternal salvation of our living, are a sign of a total love of our miserable and sinful condition of life. In the mystery we will find eternal salvation....
Questa lettura è stata veramente particolare, primo, ho deciso di leggere questo libro unicamente perchè mi piaceva moltissimo la copertina, scovato nella libreria di mio padre.... non avevo un preciso motivo per un libro con un argomento così unico, come lo possono essere le rivelazioni mistiche dei Santi.
Invece le rivelazioni e le parole commentate sono molto scorrevoli, quindi la lettura risulta piacevole e mai prolissa.
La contemplazione della Beatitudine di nostro signore Gesù Cristo. , tutto qui il tema su cui vertono le rivelazioni, e la grazia che la Fede può dare, quando in ogni circostanza, anche la più avversa, è segno che tutto è per un bene più grande. La Passione e la morte del Cristo, altri non sono per sconfiggere il qui ed ora materiale del nostro vivere. La morte non sarà l' ultima parola su di noi, ma segno di una appartenenza totale dell' uomo al suo creatore, che morendo per noi ci ha donato una salvezza eterna.
Per un non credente queste parole possono solo sembrare una bestemmia o una vergogna, per chi vede nel Cristo, la salvezza eterna del nostro vivere, sono segno di un amore totale della nostra condizione misera e peccatrice di vita. Nel mistero troveremo la salvezza eterna....
August 28, 2025
2025 Review
Wholly invested in the Windeatt translation now. I desperately needed these words this summer, and noticed more interactions with Julian's theology in my reading this summer. Some obvious (The Bell by Iris Murdoch) and some natural (Little Boy Lost) and some kindred (China Court).
"Great was the holy conversation that the anchoress and this creature had through talking of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for the many days that they were together." (extract from Windeatt's translation The Book of Margery Kempe ch. 18, 169)
2024 Review
On this read (Windeatt translation), my sixth time through, I am beginning to see the fruit of spending each summer immersed in these words. I'm realizing how much my thinking and spirituality have been shaped by Julian, how it is becoming "common sense" to me, and how my theology has grown through a foundation in the lovingkindness of God.
"Here end the sublime and wonderful Revelations of the unutterable love of God in Jesus Christ, vouchsafed to a dear lover of his and in her to all his dear friends and lovers, whose hearts, like hers, do flame in the love of our dearest Jesu." (165)
2023 Review
This year I read Barry Windeatt's translation for the Oxford World's Classics edition. Definitely my favorite! I sat down with Mirabai Starr's translation at first, but her translator's note turned me all the way off to her methodology so I decided to pivot. Windeatt's translation is readable without losing Julian's spark, and the explanatory notes are very helpful. There's also an index of Scripture references, a general index, a list of revelations in both the short and long texts, an excerpt from The Book of Margery Kempe, and some helpful front matter too. I have struggled to find the right edition to recommend to those interested in Julian, and I think I've finally found it!
This is the fifth time I've spent the summer with Julian, and it is always needed, always a balm to my soul. Resting in God's love, delighting in him and receiving his delight--there's nothing like it. As the first theological text written in English, it is a fount of English spirituality and theological expression. Drinking the sweet waters of the source simply fills my soul.
"...our Lord showed me spiritually in a vision how intimately he loves us. I saw that he is to us everything that is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing that out of love enwraps us and enfolds us, embraces and wholly encloses us, surrounding us for tender love, so that he can never leave us." (45)
"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes the third, which is a holy, marvellous delight in God, which is love. Where truth and wisdom truly are, there is love, truly coming from both, and all of God's making." (97)
"And just as we shall be without end, so we were treasured and hidden in God, known and loved from without beginning." (119)
2022 Review
I never regret spending several months with Julian. Her central question regards what it means to live in the reality of God's love, and I love meditating with her on that every year.
This was the first time I sought a different translation: that of Father John-Julian, OJN. I valued his lexical choices, but the format of Paraclete Press's edition was not ideal for my personal reading. He sets the readings into brief daily sections, a total of 195, though I wanted to make it through in ~3 months as usual. The sections don't always follow the text's chapter designations, which I found unhelpful. The translation is also arranged somewhat like poetry. I liked it sometimes, but disliked it most of the time. Shewings/Revelations is not poetry. It is the first theological text in vernacular Middle English. I respect the translator's choices, because one of his major goals is to make the text accessible for devotional use. It just wasn't quite suited for the devotional pattern I've settled into over the past few years. It also makes it really hard to go back through the text to find quotations and passages for additional meditation, and the line breaks and indentation make quoting in a review like this a chore.
I plan to read Mirabai Starr's translation next. I wonder how I would have encountered this translation if I had read it before reading Elizabeth Spearing's thrice. The poetry-like line breaks and 195 sections for daily readings made me feel something of a distance between myself and Julian, which I had not encountered before. Yet, Father John-Julian's translation choices (opposed to organizational choices) communicated Julian's words to me in a fresh way that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Overall, I'd gift this edition to someone who is interested in Julian but intimidated by her, or someone seeking different translations. Yet, for someone who is acquainted with mysticism, medieval texts, et c., I'd recommend another edition.
2021 Review
My third year in a row spending the summer with Julian. Always worth it! Her focus on comfort was particularly needed this year--as it was last year, too--and her invitation to rest in God's goodness and love remains enticing. It struck me this time that Julian herself never says "all shall be well." The many times it's repeated in the text always come as quotations from her visions.
"...the goodness of God is the highest object of prayer and it reaches down to our lowest need." (49)
"And what comforted me most in the vision was that our God and Lord, who is so holy and awe-inspiring, is also so familiar and courteous." (51)
"'Look how I loved you. Look and see that I loved you so much before I died for you that I was willing to die for you....For my pleasure is your holiness and your endless joy and bliss with me.'" (76)
"...in this marvelling he sees his God, his Lord, his Maker, so high, so great and so good in comparison with him that he made, that the creature hardly seems of any value to himself, but the brightness and purity of truth and wisdom make him see and recognize that he is made for love, in which God holds him forever." (105)
"Mercy works with tenderness and grace blended with abundant pity; for by the work of mercy we are held safe and by the work of mercy everything is turned to good for us." (111)
"Thus I saw that God is our true peace, and he is our sure support when we are ourselves unpeaceful, and he is continually working to bring us into eternal peace." (113)
"And just as we shall be eternally, so we were treasured and hidden in God, known and loved since before time began." (129)
"He did not say, 'You shall not be tormented, you shall not be troubled, you shall not be grieved', but he said, 'You shall not be overcome.'" (135)
2020 Review
Chose this again for a summer devotional read, taking it even slower this time through to savor it. Julian's focus on love and intimacy with God is always a breath of fresh air, yet her reverence for the Holy Trinity never wavers. My second reading confirmed that Revelations is a great introduction to mysticism for the novice. Love mysticism can be a bit woo-woo for us Western folk, and Teresa of Avila is not exactly in the contemporary comfort zone, either, until one is introduced to mystic thought and expression, and can read it phenomenologically. Julian is more earthy, and the Penguin Classics translation by Elizabeth Spearing is very readable, especially after reading A. C. Spearing's introduction, which explains her earthy terms like "homely."
"...our Lord showed me a spiritual vision of his familiar love. I saw that for us he is everything that is good and comforting and helpful. He is our clothing, wrapping and enveloping us for love, embracing us and guiding us in all things, hanging about us in tender love, so that he can never leave us. And so in this vision, as I understand it, I saw truly that he is everything that is good for us." (7)
"[Jesus] supports us willingly and sweetly, by his words, and says, 'But all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.' These words were shown very tenderly...Thus I saw how Christ feels compassion for us because of sin. And just as I was earlier filled with suffering and compassion at the Passion of Christ, so was I now also partly filled with compassion for all my fellow Christians; and then I saw that whenever a man feels kind compassion with love for his fellow Christian, it is Christ within him." (21-22)
"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes the third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love. Where truth and wisdom truly are, there is truly love coming from both of them, and all of God's making; for he is supreme unending truth, supreme unending wisdom, supreme unending love, uncreated." (105)
"And you to whom this book may come, thank our Saviour Jesu Christ earnestly and heartily for making these showings and revelations of his endless love, mercy and goodness for you and to you, to be your and our safe guide and conduct to everlasting bliss; which may Jesus grant us. Amen." (180)
2019 Review
For my first time going completely through the short text and long text, I read a few chapters each day as part of my devotional practice. Julian is such a mother of the faith, and her voice is rich. Insights leapt to me from every page, and some of them changed my life. Considering returning to this one on a yearly basis.
Wholly invested in the Windeatt translation now. I desperately needed these words this summer, and noticed more interactions with Julian's theology in my reading this summer. Some obvious (The Bell by Iris Murdoch) and some natural (Little Boy Lost) and some kindred (China Court).
"Great was the holy conversation that the anchoress and this creature had through talking of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ for the many days that they were together." (extract from Windeatt's translation The Book of Margery Kempe ch. 18, 169)
2024 Review
On this read (Windeatt translation), my sixth time through, I am beginning to see the fruit of spending each summer immersed in these words. I'm realizing how much my thinking and spirituality have been shaped by Julian, how it is becoming "common sense" to me, and how my theology has grown through a foundation in the lovingkindness of God.
"Here end the sublime and wonderful Revelations of the unutterable love of God in Jesus Christ, vouchsafed to a dear lover of his and in her to all his dear friends and lovers, whose hearts, like hers, do flame in the love of our dearest Jesu." (165)
2023 Review
This year I read Barry Windeatt's translation for the Oxford World's Classics edition. Definitely my favorite! I sat down with Mirabai Starr's translation at first, but her translator's note turned me all the way off to her methodology so I decided to pivot. Windeatt's translation is readable without losing Julian's spark, and the explanatory notes are very helpful. There's also an index of Scripture references, a general index, a list of revelations in both the short and long texts, an excerpt from The Book of Margery Kempe, and some helpful front matter too. I have struggled to find the right edition to recommend to those interested in Julian, and I think I've finally found it!
This is the fifth time I've spent the summer with Julian, and it is always needed, always a balm to my soul. Resting in God's love, delighting in him and receiving his delight--there's nothing like it. As the first theological text written in English, it is a fount of English spirituality and theological expression. Drinking the sweet waters of the source simply fills my soul.
"...our Lord showed me spiritually in a vision how intimately he loves us. I saw that he is to us everything that is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing that out of love enwraps us and enfolds us, embraces and wholly encloses us, surrounding us for tender love, so that he can never leave us." (45)
"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes the third, which is a holy, marvellous delight in God, which is love. Where truth and wisdom truly are, there is love, truly coming from both, and all of God's making." (97)
"And just as we shall be without end, so we were treasured and hidden in God, known and loved from without beginning." (119)
2022 Review
I never regret spending several months with Julian. Her central question regards what it means to live in the reality of God's love, and I love meditating with her on that every year.
This was the first time I sought a different translation: that of Father John-Julian, OJN. I valued his lexical choices, but the format of Paraclete Press's edition was not ideal for my personal reading. He sets the readings into brief daily sections, a total of 195, though I wanted to make it through in ~3 months as usual. The sections don't always follow the text's chapter designations, which I found unhelpful. The translation is also arranged somewhat like poetry. I liked it sometimes, but disliked it most of the time. Shewings/Revelations is not poetry. It is the first theological text in vernacular Middle English. I respect the translator's choices, because one of his major goals is to make the text accessible for devotional use. It just wasn't quite suited for the devotional pattern I've settled into over the past few years. It also makes it really hard to go back through the text to find quotations and passages for additional meditation, and the line breaks and indentation make quoting in a review like this a chore.
I plan to read Mirabai Starr's translation next. I wonder how I would have encountered this translation if I had read it before reading Elizabeth Spearing's thrice. The poetry-like line breaks and 195 sections for daily readings made me feel something of a distance between myself and Julian, which I had not encountered before. Yet, Father John-Julian's translation choices (opposed to organizational choices) communicated Julian's words to me in a fresh way that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Overall, I'd gift this edition to someone who is interested in Julian but intimidated by her, or someone seeking different translations. Yet, for someone who is acquainted with mysticism, medieval texts, et c., I'd recommend another edition.
2021 Review
My third year in a row spending the summer with Julian. Always worth it! Her focus on comfort was particularly needed this year--as it was last year, too--and her invitation to rest in God's goodness and love remains enticing. It struck me this time that Julian herself never says "all shall be well." The many times it's repeated in the text always come as quotations from her visions.
"...the goodness of God is the highest object of prayer and it reaches down to our lowest need." (49)
"And what comforted me most in the vision was that our God and Lord, who is so holy and awe-inspiring, is also so familiar and courteous." (51)
"'Look how I loved you. Look and see that I loved you so much before I died for you that I was willing to die for you....For my pleasure is your holiness and your endless joy and bliss with me.'" (76)
"...in this marvelling he sees his God, his Lord, his Maker, so high, so great and so good in comparison with him that he made, that the creature hardly seems of any value to himself, but the brightness and purity of truth and wisdom make him see and recognize that he is made for love, in which God holds him forever." (105)
"Mercy works with tenderness and grace blended with abundant pity; for by the work of mercy we are held safe and by the work of mercy everything is turned to good for us." (111)
"Thus I saw that God is our true peace, and he is our sure support when we are ourselves unpeaceful, and he is continually working to bring us into eternal peace." (113)
"And just as we shall be eternally, so we were treasured and hidden in God, known and loved since before time began." (129)
"He did not say, 'You shall not be tormented, you shall not be troubled, you shall not be grieved', but he said, 'You shall not be overcome.'" (135)
2020 Review
Chose this again for a summer devotional read, taking it even slower this time through to savor it. Julian's focus on love and intimacy with God is always a breath of fresh air, yet her reverence for the Holy Trinity never wavers. My second reading confirmed that Revelations is a great introduction to mysticism for the novice. Love mysticism can be a bit woo-woo for us Western folk, and Teresa of Avila is not exactly in the contemporary comfort zone, either, until one is introduced to mystic thought and expression, and can read it phenomenologically. Julian is more earthy, and the Penguin Classics translation by Elizabeth Spearing is very readable, especially after reading A. C. Spearing's introduction, which explains her earthy terms like "homely."
"...our Lord showed me a spiritual vision of his familiar love. I saw that for us he is everything that is good and comforting and helpful. He is our clothing, wrapping and enveloping us for love, embracing us and guiding us in all things, hanging about us in tender love, so that he can never leave us. And so in this vision, as I understand it, I saw truly that he is everything that is good for us." (7)
"[Jesus] supports us willingly and sweetly, by his words, and says, 'But all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.' These words were shown very tenderly...Thus I saw how Christ feels compassion for us because of sin. And just as I was earlier filled with suffering and compassion at the Passion of Christ, so was I now also partly filled with compassion for all my fellow Christians; and then I saw that whenever a man feels kind compassion with love for his fellow Christian, it is Christ within him." (21-22)
"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes the third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love. Where truth and wisdom truly are, there is truly love coming from both of them, and all of God's making; for he is supreme unending truth, supreme unending wisdom, supreme unending love, uncreated." (105)
"And you to whom this book may come, thank our Saviour Jesu Christ earnestly and heartily for making these showings and revelations of his endless love, mercy and goodness for you and to you, to be your and our safe guide and conduct to everlasting bliss; which may Jesus grant us. Amen." (180)
2019 Review
For my first time going completely through the short text and long text, I read a few chapters each day as part of my devotional practice. Julian is such a mother of the faith, and her voice is rich. Insights leapt to me from every page, and some of them changed my life. Considering returning to this one on a yearly basis.
June 14, 2016
Visions of a Medieval Mystic
28 January 2012
I discovered this book when my Bible College lecturer mentioned it and then proceeded to mock it for the rest of the lecture. Once the lecture had finished I went straight to the library, located it, and borrowed it, and I must admit that I quite enjoyed it (it was a much easier read than An Imitation of Christ. Basically the book is about a series of 16 visions that a female recluse had in the 1300s and her interpretation of these visions.
The story goes that Julian of Norwich wanted to have a revelation from God and then one day fell extremely ill, and while she was ill she had a series of 16 visions in which she learnt about God's loving nature. It is not the most theologically sound book that I have read, and there are a few areas that I simply don't agree with, namely that God's love is incompatible with his being angry, and that because of God's love, sin does not matter as much, but it does delve deeply into grace and is a book in which God's love that is demonstrated through his death upon the cross is explored deeply.
What stands out the most about this book is how Julian breaks through the gender barrier, for at the time theology is very much a male dominated discipline, and though things have changed, Julian was writing in the 14th century, and it further appears that she was not as well versed in the scriptures as others probably where. Yet for a book to have lasted for so long from a time when a recluse woman who had visions and then taught from them and was not burnt as a witch is impressive.
There are a couple of things I've noticed about her teachings (if that is what you wish to call it). Firstly, everything occurs in threes. Okay, she has 16 visions, but as she describes these visions, she always describes them in triplets, which reflects the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The second thing is how she explores the feminine nature (or what she sees as the feminine nature) of God, and she generally expresses that Jesus is the mother, however that is something that I don't necessarily see as entirely supportive simply because my reading of the scripture indicates that God is male, and if there is any feminine aspect to God then it is the church. That does not necessarily mean that God does not have feminine characteristics, but it is not something that I have any desire to speculate on at this time.
28 January 2012
I discovered this book when my Bible College lecturer mentioned it and then proceeded to mock it for the rest of the lecture. Once the lecture had finished I went straight to the library, located it, and borrowed it, and I must admit that I quite enjoyed it (it was a much easier read than An Imitation of Christ. Basically the book is about a series of 16 visions that a female recluse had in the 1300s and her interpretation of these visions.
The story goes that Julian of Norwich wanted to have a revelation from God and then one day fell extremely ill, and while she was ill she had a series of 16 visions in which she learnt about God's loving nature. It is not the most theologically sound book that I have read, and there are a few areas that I simply don't agree with, namely that God's love is incompatible with his being angry, and that because of God's love, sin does not matter as much, but it does delve deeply into grace and is a book in which God's love that is demonstrated through his death upon the cross is explored deeply.
What stands out the most about this book is how Julian breaks through the gender barrier, for at the time theology is very much a male dominated discipline, and though things have changed, Julian was writing in the 14th century, and it further appears that she was not as well versed in the scriptures as others probably where. Yet for a book to have lasted for so long from a time when a recluse woman who had visions and then taught from them and was not burnt as a witch is impressive.
There are a couple of things I've noticed about her teachings (if that is what you wish to call it). Firstly, everything occurs in threes. Okay, she has 16 visions, but as she describes these visions, she always describes them in triplets, which reflects the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The second thing is how she explores the feminine nature (or what she sees as the feminine nature) of God, and she generally expresses that Jesus is the mother, however that is something that I don't necessarily see as entirely supportive simply because my reading of the scripture indicates that God is male, and if there is any feminine aspect to God then it is the church. That does not necessarily mean that God does not have feminine characteristics, but it is not something that I have any desire to speculate on at this time.
October 29, 2018
This was a moving testimony by a woman in great pain who used her faith to get through it.
December 30, 2008
The first book known to have been written by a woman in the English language. Julian is loved by feminist theologians and Catholic conservatives alike. Out of her mystical visions of Christ, comes an exploration of the feminine aspects of God, the problem of evil and suffering, and God's love for humanity. Most known for the phrase "all shall be well", but I also love "Love was His meaning". I love this book.
August 25, 2013
Julian likes lists! So do I! ☺ At another time in my life, her writings might have sounded like an old-time sermon. The recording I listened to read by Pam Ward and produced by Hovel Audio did use many quaint unfamiliar expressions. And yet, I found myself compelled to love Julian's ‘Gracious Lord’, so I might be able to claim as she did,
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Set this aside for some reason ... guess I had too many other books started. Picking it up again. Listening to it as well as reading it.
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One of the first e-books I downloaded to my new Kindle Fire. Looked through a number of versions of the this classic work and this was the one which looked the best; hope it is.
‘Our courteous Lord endlessly beholds us in this work, rejoicing. And we please him best by wisely and truly believing these things, and by rejoicing with him and in him. For as truly as we shall be in the bliss of God without end, praising and thanking him, so truly we have been in the foresight of God, loved and known in his endless purpose from time without beginning. In this unbegun love he made us; and in the same love he keeps us and never allows us to be hurt in a way by which our bliss might be lost. Therefore when the last day is called and we are all brought up above, then we shall clearly see in God the secret things which are hidden from us now. Then shall no one be stirred to say in any way: ‘Lord, if it had been so, then it would have been well.’ But rather, we shall all say with one voice: ‘Lord, may you be blessed for it is so, and it is well; and now see we truly that all things are done as you ordained before anything was made.’
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Set this aside for some reason ... guess I had too many other books started. Picking it up again. Listening to it as well as reading it.
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One of the first e-books I downloaded to my new Kindle Fire. Looked through a number of versions of the this classic work and this was the one which looked the best; hope it is.
November 30, 2008
Medieval Lit: sometimes you are so cool, and other times you make me want to stab my eyes out with a quill pen.
Julian of Norwich falls into the category of written dream vision, of which there seems to have been jillions in the middle ages. Nobody just had regular dreams, oh no; they had religiously significant dreams that must be recorded for all to read about and for professors today to torture their students with. Thanks, Julian. Thanks a bunch.
In all seriousness, I appreciate her sincerity and obvious depth of belief. Julian was an anchoritess, meaning she chose to be walled into a small cell attached to a church to have the time and peace to contemplate her visions and write them down. Pretty serious jazz. Her images and discussion of God as mother are theologically sound, even if she does carry them a little too far (kinda vampiric with the whole drinking the blood of Christ thing). I also liked the line "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." Apparently T.S. Eliot did too, because he put it in his poetry. So I guess you're not all bad, Julian...but I just can't bring myself to like most dream visions. I'll stick to the Dream of the Rood, at least that's in Old English.
Julian of Norwich falls into the category of written dream vision, of which there seems to have been jillions in the middle ages. Nobody just had regular dreams, oh no; they had religiously significant dreams that must be recorded for all to read about and for professors today to torture their students with. Thanks, Julian. Thanks a bunch.
In all seriousness, I appreciate her sincerity and obvious depth of belief. Julian was an anchoritess, meaning she chose to be walled into a small cell attached to a church to have the time and peace to contemplate her visions and write them down. Pretty serious jazz. Her images and discussion of God as mother are theologically sound, even if she does carry them a little too far (kinda vampiric with the whole drinking the blood of Christ thing). I also liked the line "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." Apparently T.S. Eliot did too, because he put it in his poetry. So I guess you're not all bad, Julian...but I just can't bring myself to like most dream visions. I'll stick to the Dream of the Rood, at least that's in Old English.
November 2, 2020
This was a re-read. This time around it was for the longer text.
I like the longer text better. It elaborates more on what Julian of Norwich saw during her visions.
While I was reading this I used a copy of the Wycliffe Bible as reference work. Anytime scripture was mentioned I looked it up in that translation. For me it wasn’t that difficult to read. But, this is coming from a person who had to memorize Chaucer while in High School. So something you can try, is to have both the Wycliffe and King James open side by side while reading the quoted scriptures. Reading the scriptures can help put you into the frame of mind that Julian was in while experiencing her visions and writing the text.
This book is also considered to by a “Christian Classic”. So give this one a go and see what it means to you.
I like the longer text better. It elaborates more on what Julian of Norwich saw during her visions.
While I was reading this I used a copy of the Wycliffe Bible as reference work. Anytime scripture was mentioned I looked it up in that translation. For me it wasn’t that difficult to read. But, this is coming from a person who had to memorize Chaucer while in High School. So something you can try, is to have both the Wycliffe and King James open side by side while reading the quoted scriptures. Reading the scriptures can help put you into the frame of mind that Julian was in while experiencing her visions and writing the text.
This book is also considered to by a “Christian Classic”. So give this one a go and see what it means to you.
October 7, 2024
October 2024: A lifeline. This is exactly the book I needed to reread in the midst of so much uprooting and change. The Lord's refrain to Julian has become mine as well: "I am keeping you very safe."
February 2021: I'm speechless after finishing and am tempted to immediately pick the book up once more. I would so love to have a cup of tea with Julian. What a woman. Her abundant wisdom and humility are evident on every page. These are the most beautiful, soul-comforting words I have read in a long time—a reminder that we are never not held in God's love and that Christ is our true Mother. Wow.
February 2021: I'm speechless after finishing and am tempted to immediately pick the book up once more. I would so love to have a cup of tea with Julian. What a woman. Her abundant wisdom and humility are evident on every page. These are the most beautiful, soul-comforting words I have read in a long time—a reminder that we are never not held in God's love and that Christ is our true Mother. Wow.
January 16, 2024
Julian of Norwich is a English mystic who experienced a series of divine visions in the late 1300's, which she set down in two texts, the first called the Short Text was composed in 1373. The Long Text was completed about twenty years later. These divine revelations are focused on God's desire to share with Julian how much God loves His people and wants them to know that God is very willing and desirous to share His forgiveness with those who would acknowledge their sinful ways as well as their inability to atone for sin outside of Christ's love.
The Short Text shares her revelations and is divided into 25 short chapters. I found chapter 9 to be the most interesting, which God shares a vision of supreme joy with Julian as well as a vision of suffering and solitude. The Long Text repeats the layout of the "showings" as Julian calls them, but then goes into some of Julian's speculations on theology that she has gleaned from her showings. I am very glad that I got around to this text. It is a very valuable read. The reading did seem to be a bit repetitive at times. I learned a lot about the Medieval mind set from reading this, which I greatly appreciate. In comparison to another text from this time period, that I recently read, The Cloud of Unknowing, I preferred Julian's text.
The Short Text shares her revelations and is divided into 25 short chapters. I found chapter 9 to be the most interesting, which God shares a vision of supreme joy with Julian as well as a vision of suffering and solitude. The Long Text repeats the layout of the "showings" as Julian calls them, but then goes into some of Julian's speculations on theology that she has gleaned from her showings. I am very glad that I got around to this text. It is a very valuable read. The reading did seem to be a bit repetitive at times. I learned a lot about the Medieval mind set from reading this, which I greatly appreciate. In comparison to another text from this time period, that I recently read, The Cloud of Unknowing, I preferred Julian's text.
September 2, 2020
I love those medieval mystics and Julian is one of the best--"And all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well".
There are so many beautiful things in The Showings. God as Mother and Father, the idea (and new word) of "one-ing" with God. The vision of a God incapable of anger where sin is what makes us unhappy not what angers God. A God that delights in his/her creation. A God that is trustworthy.
I'll admit I skimmed through some of the more gruesome Catholic visions of the bleeding Jesus, and Julian's desire to experience serious illness to be one with him. There certainly were a lot of pages that did not speak to me. But who would have expected that so many would?
A beautiful book.
There are so many beautiful things in The Showings. God as Mother and Father, the idea (and new word) of "one-ing" with God. The vision of a God incapable of anger where sin is what makes us unhappy not what angers God. A God that delights in his/her creation. A God that is trustworthy.
I'll admit I skimmed through some of the more gruesome Catholic visions of the bleeding Jesus, and Julian's desire to experience serious illness to be one with him. There certainly were a lot of pages that did not speak to me. But who would have expected that so many would?
A beautiful book.
January 3, 2026
As I begin to immerse myself in studying the art of devotion, I think it important for me to analyze theological texts, as they are key to understanding the pursuit of knowledge in a time where the the only accessible and predominant form of knowledge was religious. As an atheist, I am not reading this because I’m interested in Christianity or God; I read this solely because of my devout interest in the pursuit of knowledge throughout history. Both the pursuit and the knowledge being sought will vary depending on milieu, but it is the act of hard devotion which I find so incredibly interesting to study and, frankly, admirable due to its parallels with my own devout pursuit of knowledge. My pursuit is not in a religious knowledge but a holistic knowledge in art, science, humanities, life, and almost everything that fascinates me.
I do not take for granted my access to an education because in a world where if I did not have this access, yet simultaneously remained with my perseverance of a pursuit in knowledge, then I might have pursued a religion too—or whatever I deemed to be “true knowledge” in theory. I’m glad to be experiencing a life with non-religious contemporary academia.
Julian of Norwich was veritably interesting… she begged for bodily harm, death, visions, and wounds just to hear and learn messages from God, in order to be sure of his existence. When she was 30.5 years old, she had a handful of divine revelations as revealed through spiritual and physical visions. Like any books about religion, there will always be contradictions in the text. Trusting in a “higher plan” yet asking for many instantaneous things like revelations or wounds or epiphanies were of importance to note. Adulating the creation of everything as perfect because it’s made from god yet calling yourself and all women “ignorant, weak, and fail…” (pg 11). The long text version is extremely repetitive and similar to the short text version, it is essentially a regurgitation captivating a deeply serious tone with slightly less persuasion. Psychologically, religion fascinates me, so I am attracted to what made Julian say the things she said and have the visions she had. Was it neuroses, schizophrenia, a bad trip, a lie? The text is rich enough for the reader to heed the her fear in her writings: fear of punishment, being wrong, or being unimportant. Material was unconvincing due to its lack of evidence, repetitive persuasion, and unanswered questions. Overall, a semi-interesting read, excluding the longer version written years after the short one; I don’t claim that version necessary to read at all.
2/5
I do not take for granted my access to an education because in a world where if I did not have this access, yet simultaneously remained with my perseverance of a pursuit in knowledge, then I might have pursued a religion too—or whatever I deemed to be “true knowledge” in theory. I’m glad to be experiencing a life with non-religious contemporary academia.
Julian of Norwich was veritably interesting… she begged for bodily harm, death, visions, and wounds just to hear and learn messages from God, in order to be sure of his existence. When she was 30.5 years old, she had a handful of divine revelations as revealed through spiritual and physical visions. Like any books about religion, there will always be contradictions in the text. Trusting in a “higher plan” yet asking for many instantaneous things like revelations or wounds or epiphanies were of importance to note. Adulating the creation of everything as perfect because it’s made from god yet calling yourself and all women “ignorant, weak, and fail…” (pg 11). The long text version is extremely repetitive and similar to the short text version, it is essentially a regurgitation captivating a deeply serious tone with slightly less persuasion. Psychologically, religion fascinates me, so I am attracted to what made Julian say the things she said and have the visions she had. Was it neuroses, schizophrenia, a bad trip, a lie? The text is rich enough for the reader to heed the her fear in her writings: fear of punishment, being wrong, or being unimportant. Material was unconvincing due to its lack of evidence, repetitive persuasion, and unanswered questions. Overall, a semi-interesting read, excluding the longer version written years after the short one; I don’t claim that version necessary to read at all.
2/5
sampled
March 1, 2025I read parts of this for a book group. I love the idea of Julian. I love her visions of God as feminine. I love the comfort exhibited in much of her writing. I love that I can read a woman's voice! Some people are so shaped by the religion they live within. Would she have had these visions if she had been born a Hindu in India? The life of an anchoress is fascinating to me. I wish we knew more, about her life, and the lives of other anchorites. I've often felt so alone in life. I've read in the past about monks, nuns, and anchorites of various types looking for some consolation in my life that feels so solitary. I think the difference is, that the monks and nuns embraced and chose solitude in most cases. I don't think I would have chosen this solitude, if I'd been able to see a way out.
October 28, 2021
Aaaand the other book I have completed, not just read excerpts of, for my Christian Mysticism class!
Julian of Norwich deFINES girlboss. Praying that God would increase her suffering so she could relate more with Christ’s suffering and be closer to him? Girlboss. Receiving an amount of suffering that drew her close to death and opened her mind to all sorts of visions with rich theological implications? Girlboss. Recovering from this incredible illness and reflecting on these visions and extrapolating dense theological lessons about love, service, and a total absence of anger in God? Girlboss. Being the first known female writer in the English language? Girlboss. Spending the last long portion of her life in solitude as an anchoress? Girlboss. Spreading the idea of God as mother in a beautiful, gentle, tender way that makes quite literally as much, if not more sense, as the idea of God the Father? Girlboss.
The only thing not quite girlboss about Julian is that she, self-admittedly, doesn’t understand how Hell could exist in a world where God is all-loving, and would be a universalist and believe that everyone is redeemed, except, in her words, “The Church teaches otherwise.” C’mon, Julian, you can go against the church! It’s alright! Go Universalist it up!
But yeah, this is a stunning piece of very emotive, richly thoughtful writing that’s one of my favorite explorations of God I’ve read (that does end up being a bit monotonous and repetitive, unfortunately), so would recommend 😎
Julian of Norwich deFINES girlboss. Praying that God would increase her suffering so she could relate more with Christ’s suffering and be closer to him? Girlboss. Receiving an amount of suffering that drew her close to death and opened her mind to all sorts of visions with rich theological implications? Girlboss. Recovering from this incredible illness and reflecting on these visions and extrapolating dense theological lessons about love, service, and a total absence of anger in God? Girlboss. Being the first known female writer in the English language? Girlboss. Spending the last long portion of her life in solitude as an anchoress? Girlboss. Spreading the idea of God as mother in a beautiful, gentle, tender way that makes quite literally as much, if not more sense, as the idea of God the Father? Girlboss.
The only thing not quite girlboss about Julian is that she, self-admittedly, doesn’t understand how Hell could exist in a world where God is all-loving, and would be a universalist and believe that everyone is redeemed, except, in her words, “The Church teaches otherwise.” C’mon, Julian, you can go against the church! It’s alright! Go Universalist it up!
But yeah, this is a stunning piece of very emotive, richly thoughtful writing that’s one of my favorite explorations of God I’ve read (that does end up being a bit monotonous and repetitive, unfortunately), so would recommend 😎
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May 25, 2020I have never read anything like this. I love it. I will be meditating on it for a long time.
November 3, 2024
This is primarily a devotional work. Part emphasis on the physicality of Christ on the cross (I had shots from Passion of the Christ in my mind as I read). Part Erasmus-style urging Christians to be better, do more, try harder---the usual "Do your best, and God will do the rest" nonsense. Part comfort of the gospel: a real, tangible forgiveness for you, bought by Christ. Part focus on God as a tender and loving Mother who protects and provides for believers as children.
The Penguin edition contains the short text and long text versions.
The Penguin edition contains the short text and long text versions.
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July 31, 2023Where Truth and Wisdom are verily, there is Love verily, coming of them both.
(I AM NOT MAKING FUN OF RELIGION, I AM ONLY MAKING FUN OF JULIAN OF NORWICH, AND EVEN THEN ONLY WITH THE DEEPEST ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION FOR MY SISTER IN CHRIST.)
this book is a trip. I read it because it's the earliest surviving example of a book written in english that we know for sure was written by a woman, historical importance yadda yadda, but mainly, it's a trip.
julian of norwich is sooooo horny for god! and in particular so horny for, like, jesus's physical bodily damage! she's a real gorehound, to be honest! (I may also finally have to cave and create a #sidewoundrepresentation shelf, because obviously.)
but then just when you think that this book is going to be exclusively about julian's ecstatic agonies over jesus's blood-dripping forehead or whatever, she hits you with some extremely interesting stuff about jesus being our mother. like, really hits you over the head with it—it's relentless. even though I was tickled by the god-is-all-forms-of-love-and-I-do-mean-all section, the mother jesus gender section is the part I liked the best, the part where I had to sit up straight and tuck my shirt in and start taking notes instead of simply goofing around on my computer in the giant lecture hall (metaphorically speaking) because I realized that actually this was an interesting speaker with an interesting point. and give it to her!! because yes, she's right!!!!! if one believes that god is the father along with everything else then one must also surely believe that god is the mother, and like, yes, obviously, but I am just so unused to hearing that perspective from faithful catholi-christians (christians of any stripe, really, but when julian was having her revelations norwich was busy suppressing the lollards and martin luther hadn't been invented yet).
quotes about our mother jesus under the cut simply for length, but I do recommend reading them if you're interested, because again, it's all kind of wild:
other little bits of miscellany:
- rightfulness hath two fair properties: it is right and it is full—WELL, WHEN YOU PUT IT THAT WAY
- the word 'liefer'!!!! lief my old friend I didn't know u could be comparative :')
- so many modest (or not modest?) little as to my sights, forty-three in all!!
- sin is more painful than hell
- 'soothness'
- I know now that 'homely' and 'homeliness' mean something different in british english than in USian lol
whether we be stirred to know God or our Soul, both [these stirrings] are good and true.
________________
*the translation is interesting. julian of norwich wrote in the vernacular; grace warrack's 1901 translation, which is the one that has wound up in the public domain—look at this beautiful cover!—makes use of all those olde-timey eths and so on. I wonder to what extent that is a preservation, and to what extent a manufacturing, in taking something from middle english and going to the trouble of translating it to a modernized english for readability. I suppose that, in any case, it's likely for the effect of that elevated and grandiose tenor in the Churchy Language–y way. and we presumably also have warrack to thank for the transition into modern english of wonderful phrasing like a marvellous mingling both of weal and woe (while I have to imagine that the original text, which I haven't perused, was alliterative as well, translating it successfully is a feat in itself!).
May 31, 2023
Revelations of Divine Love is one of the earliest (and earliest still surviving) works in English by a woman. Unfortunately I found it quite a slog to get through not being interested in religious mystical visions.
Written by Julian of Norwich (born 1343 and died sometime after 1416). They estimate this was written in 1393, so right in the middle of when Chaucer was writing The Canterbury Tales.
Pretty cool that we still have this!
Written by Julian of Norwich (born 1343 and died sometime after 1416). They estimate this was written in 1393, so right in the middle of when Chaucer was writing The Canterbury Tales.
Pretty cool that we still have this!
February 17, 2025
"Consider me alone my precious child, make me your object, I am enough for you, rejoice in your Saviour and your salvation"
Julian's revelation encouraged me to remember how closely and intimately God loves us. When one feels overcome by the weight of our sin, she asks us to remember the deep love of Christ who, hanging on the cross, tells us, "Look how much I love you. If I could suffer more for you, I would suffer more."
This picture of Christ, wounded, bleeding, and dying, but somehow rejoicing in his death and suffering because it benefits us, could only remind me of my own mother. There is truly something so motherly about Christ's crucifixion. I love how Julian emphasizes the feminine love of God. She wrote that Christ, "who does good for evil is our true mother; we have our being from him where the ground of motherhood begins, with all the sweet protection of love which follows eternally. God is our mother as truly as He is our father, and he showed this in everything"
Julian also acknowledges the reality of sin without leading the soul to despair. We should understand and know our sins but ultimately remember that God's love suffices for all of our flaws and our sin is not who we are, nor who we were meant to be. She reminds us of God's pity and compassion. She describes the state of man through a parable God gave her: the sinful man is like a man who fell into a ditch, became injured, and could not get out without the help of his master. Is this man really so completely evil and rotten and dirty and gross? Because he fell into a ditch and mud covered his eyes so he could not see? Julian would say otherwise. While it is good and right to name our sin, this cannot be the only thing we hear in church, school, etc. It gets exhausting after a while.
Julian's picture of Christ as a mother is extremely helpful. "The kind, loving mother who knows and recognizes the need of her child, she watches over it most tenderly, as the nature and condition of motherhood demands. And as it grows in age her actions change, although her love does not. And as it grows older still, she allows it to be beaten to break down vices so that the child may gain in virtue and grace." Christ, like a mother, will not lie to us and tell us we do not sin. Julian even says it is a grace to be reminded of our sins so we can repent and receive forgiveness. Christ is like the mother who lifts a child out of a mud ditch, lovingly rebuking the child while taking her by the hand into the house to change.
"But when our falling and our wretched sin is shown to us, we are so terrified and so very ashamed that we hardly know where to put ourselves. But then our kind Mother does not want us to run from him, there is nothing he wants less. But he wants us to behave like a child; for when it is hurt or frightened it runs to its mother for help as fast as it can, and he wants us to do the same like a humble child"
Julian's revelation encouraged me to remember how closely and intimately God loves us. When one feels overcome by the weight of our sin, she asks us to remember the deep love of Christ who, hanging on the cross, tells us, "Look how much I love you. If I could suffer more for you, I would suffer more."
This picture of Christ, wounded, bleeding, and dying, but somehow rejoicing in his death and suffering because it benefits us, could only remind me of my own mother. There is truly something so motherly about Christ's crucifixion. I love how Julian emphasizes the feminine love of God. She wrote that Christ, "who does good for evil is our true mother; we have our being from him where the ground of motherhood begins, with all the sweet protection of love which follows eternally. God is our mother as truly as He is our father, and he showed this in everything"
Julian also acknowledges the reality of sin without leading the soul to despair. We should understand and know our sins but ultimately remember that God's love suffices for all of our flaws and our sin is not who we are, nor who we were meant to be. She reminds us of God's pity and compassion. She describes the state of man through a parable God gave her: the sinful man is like a man who fell into a ditch, became injured, and could not get out without the help of his master. Is this man really so completely evil and rotten and dirty and gross? Because he fell into a ditch and mud covered his eyes so he could not see? Julian would say otherwise. While it is good and right to name our sin, this cannot be the only thing we hear in church, school, etc. It gets exhausting after a while.
Julian's picture of Christ as a mother is extremely helpful. "The kind, loving mother who knows and recognizes the need of her child, she watches over it most tenderly, as the nature and condition of motherhood demands. And as it grows in age her actions change, although her love does not. And as it grows older still, she allows it to be beaten to break down vices so that the child may gain in virtue and grace." Christ, like a mother, will not lie to us and tell us we do not sin. Julian even says it is a grace to be reminded of our sins so we can repent and receive forgiveness. Christ is like the mother who lifts a child out of a mud ditch, lovingly rebuking the child while taking her by the hand into the house to change.
"But when our falling and our wretched sin is shown to us, we are so terrified and so very ashamed that we hardly know where to put ourselves. But then our kind Mother does not want us to run from him, there is nothing he wants less. But he wants us to behave like a child; for when it is hurt or frightened it runs to its mother for help as fast as it can, and he wants us to do the same like a humble child"
April 25, 2024
Julian has a really good theology and portrays the image of God as good and love well, but the writing style makes it a 3.5 star read for me. I just am not a fan of the revelatory structure and the "three things which correspond to this" style that I see in medieval writings.
But! Julian is amazing at letting us know that God in Christ loves us deeply and is a good Father.
She also has a fascinating theology that Christ is our Mother and uses the symbolic language of femininity to speak of God's love for us. For a 14th century nun to be saying this is really enlivening to me as it shows that it is totally appropriate to refer to God as Mother and Father - since both are symbolic representations of a greater truth.
Finally, despite my presuppositions, I actually don't think Julian herself was strongly a universalist . She constantly speaks of "all those who are going to be saved" and "those who which our Lord saves". Now obviously this language doesn't preclude universalism, but it certainly does not teach it either. However, I do think that if you take her theology seriously you should believe whole-heartedly that God will restore all. The Church may teach that some may be eternally condemened, which may make it seem impossible - but with God all things are possible as she says. Only if all are saved can we say with her:
But! Julian is amazing at letting us know that God in Christ loves us deeply and is a good Father.
'Do you want to know what our Lord meant in all this? Learn it well: love was what he meant. Who showed it to you? Love. What did he show you? Love. Why did he show it? Out of love. Stay with this and you will learn and know more about love, but you will never know or learn anything else from it - not ever.'
She also has a fascinating theology that Christ is our Mother and uses the symbolic language of femininity to speak of God's love for us. For a 14th century nun to be saying this is really enlivening to me as it shows that it is totally appropriate to refer to God as Mother and Father - since both are symbolic representations of a greater truth.
So our life is grounded in Jesus, our true Mother, through his eternal wisdom and foreknowledge, with the almighty power of the Father and the supreme goodness of the Holy Spirit. By taking our nature he gave us life; by dying on the cross he carried us to eternal life. Ever since then, through to this moment and on until Judgment Day, he feeds us and helps us - he does everything that his wonderful mother's nature and the natural needs of a child require.
Sweet and lovely is our heavenly Mother in the eyes of our soul; precious and beautiful are the children of grace in the eyes of the heavenly Mother. They are gentle and humble, with all the lovely natural qualities of a child. It is not natural for the child to despair of his mother's love, or rely on himselt; it is natural for him to love his mother and each of the other children. With these lovely qualities and the others like them we can serve our heavenly Mother and give him pleasure.
Finally, despite my presuppositions, I actually don't think Julian herself was strongly a universalist . She constantly speaks of "all those who are going to be saved" and "those who which our Lord saves". Now obviously this language doesn't preclude universalism, but it certainly does not teach it either. However, I do think that if you take her theology seriously you should believe whole-heartedly that God will restore all. The Church may teach that some may be eternally condemened, which may make it seem impossible - but with God all things are possible as she says. Only if all are saved can we say with her:
All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
July 10, 2025
Meant to be read slowly and savored
February 28, 2024
These are either the circularly-reasoned deathbed dreams of a mentally ill person or a series of divine revelations made to a "simple, unlettered creature" – in either case, 4 stars!
January 2, 2022
did it take me 3.5 years to read this book? darn sure did. but it wasn't ever meant to be devoured like a novel, anyway. REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE, like a lot of spiritual reading, is better suited for slow chewing and meditation. (maybe not QUITE this slow, but.) it's been a real pleasure reading the last bit of this one to my baby daughter as she falls asleep at night.
April 8, 2012
This books seems pretty divisive. Readers either give it five stars or 1-2 stars. For me, I suppose I had a difficult time reading it with it's original milieu in mind. I couldn't stop thinking "This would never get published today, this would never get published today".
Obviously, it is a very significant work, as the first recorded English writing by a woman; as a well-recognized anchorite bio. However, I simply didn't get much from it. Also, I am "tainted" by my rebellious protestant upbringing and cannot help being scandalized by strong focuses on "working your way to salvation" and a fixation on longing to see Mary when apparently Christ was in her midst. I can't imagine being visited by God incarnate and saying "Wow, this is incredible! Can you go get your mom, though?"
If you're going to go for it, I recommend finding a copy that has a "short text" and a "long text". If you did the short, invest in the long.
Obviously, it is a very significant work, as the first recorded English writing by a woman; as a well-recognized anchorite bio. However, I simply didn't get much from it. Also, I am "tainted" by my rebellious protestant upbringing and cannot help being scandalized by strong focuses on "working your way to salvation" and a fixation on longing to see Mary when apparently Christ was in her midst. I can't imagine being visited by God incarnate and saying "Wow, this is incredible! Can you go get your mom, though?"
If you're going to go for it, I recommend finding a copy that has a "short text" and a "long text". If you did the short, invest in the long.
February 3, 2019
Many of her thoughts and ideas in this book are Biblical, but there is just enough in here to be heretical. At the very end of the book she basically equates her writing to be the same as scripture because these were direct revelations from God, which to me is not OK at all to equate your own personal experience to being scripture. If you hear anyone say things like this, warning bells should be going off in your head. Dangerous!
I am also not Catholic, so I don’t believe her visions of Jesus talking to her directly about His special love for Mary. There is no Biblical basis for Catholicism’s worship of Mary, so this is something only a Catholic would come up with. There are other issues here and there, but I won’t go into all of them. My belief is that this woman went too far into the deep end which is why I am giving it one star.
I am also not Catholic, so I don’t believe her visions of Jesus talking to her directly about His special love for Mary. There is no Biblical basis for Catholicism’s worship of Mary, so this is something only a Catholic would come up with. There are other issues here and there, but I won’t go into all of them. My belief is that this woman went too far into the deep end which is why I am giving it one star.
January 24, 2019
A fourteenth century mystic’s guide for the human experience written with a spiritual coherence that surpasses any other modern day book of divine appreciation.
I stumbled onto this book when I noticed that Sister Julianne from ‘Call the Midwife’ had this book as one of her few possessions. That would have been time appropriate since this book very well would have been known in 1961 or before and would had made a good companion for an Anglican nun. The series also made notice of the movie ‘Whistle Down the Wind’, a movie I never heard of, and we ended up watching it from an archive.org version.
I stumbled onto this book when I noticed that Sister Julianne from ‘Call the Midwife’ had this book as one of her few possessions. That would have been time appropriate since this book very well would have been known in 1961 or before and would had made a good companion for an Anglican nun. The series also made notice of the movie ‘Whistle Down the Wind’, a movie I never heard of, and we ended up watching it from an archive.org version.
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October 28, 2021Christian mysticism let's goooooooooo!
Julian is fascinating to me - she was an anchoress (lived the end of her life in solitude in a single cell for the sake of contemplating and reflecting on the goodness and mystery of God), and experienced intense revelations which she spent the rest of her life thinking of and explaining through her writing. She gets repetitive, but the sections on Jesus as Mother were so so so good. God our Mother isn't a new-age hippie idea, folks!
Julian is fascinating to me - she was an anchoress (lived the end of her life in solitude in a single cell for the sake of contemplating and reflecting on the goodness and mystery of God), and experienced intense revelations which she spent the rest of her life thinking of and explaining through her writing. She gets repetitive, but the sections on Jesus as Mother were so so so good. God our Mother isn't a new-age hippie idea, folks!
June 21, 2025
I find this book hard to review because, for such a short book, it took me an inordinately long time to finish. It was dense with meaning and challenged me in not a few foundational impressions of God I'd had from childhood, so I was constantly stopping to think, write, question, discuss, or weep. I am very glad I read it and found it deeply challenging and profound, and will be returning to mull over the many underlined and dog-eared portions I made throughout it.
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