Revelation of love

by of Norwich Julian

Other authorsJohn Skinner
Paper Book, 1996

Status

Available

Call number

BV4831.J83 J8513 1996

Publication

New York : Doubleday, c1996

Tags

Physical description

xiii, 187 p.; 21 cm

Barcode

3000000221

User reviews

LibraryThing member StephenBarkley
The scribe who put the words of Mother Julian to paper offered a warning:

"I pray God almighty that this book shall fall only into the hands of those who intend to be his lovers, and who are willing to submit to the Faith of the Holy Church, and to obey such sound and instructive teaching as is
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given by men of virtue, maturity, and profound learning. For this revelation contains deep theology and great wisdom, and is not meant for those who are enslaved by sin and the Devil" (213).

His warning is apt. Like my experience with The Imitation, this is the sort of writing that you have to deeply commit to before you benefit from it. If you try to skim it quickly—as if it were some modern day best-seller—it feels shallow and repetitive. On the other hand, I dare any believer to pray, open the book, and not be changed.

The form of The Revelation is simple. In 86 short chapters, Julian recounts and interprets 16 separate visions she received while praying. These visions focus on the pain Jesus was willing to bear for us, the depth of Jesus' love for us, and the incomprehensible role of evil in God's good creation.

Along the way (writing as a fourteenth century Anchorite) she shares some things that will make modern day Western-style evangelicals squirm. Specifically, her comments on St. Mary and her lengthy reflections on the motherhood of Jesus. Please don't let this dissuade you from this work. The expression "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" comes to mind.

Mother Julian was a devoted believer who was overwhelmed with the love of her God. We could all use a reminder of that.

"So it was that I learned that love was our Lord's meaning. And I saw for certain, both here and everywhere, that before ever he made us, God loved us; and that his love has never slackened, nor ever shall. In this love all his works have been done, and in this love he has made everything serve us; and in this love our life is everlasting. Our beginning was when we were made, but the love in which he made us never had beginning. In it we have our beginning"(212).

One last thought. There are more editions of this work than you can shake a stick at. I read the Penguin Classics edition, with an introduction by the translator, Clifton Wolters. His 33 page introduction was a valuable aid for me to understand the broad theme of the book as well as Mother Julian's life and setting.
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LibraryThing member ChristopherRiels
It has been years since I read this book, and I do not remember enough about it to justify reviewing it. It comes as no surprise that, as a work of mysticism, it is somewhat opaque; this opacity makes the work difficult not only to understand but also to recall. I surmise, however, that I would
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gain more from reading it now as a result of knowledge I have acquired in the years since I first grappled with it.

In any case, I do remember some salient features of the author's (whose name was not Julian) thought that especially interested me. First, she states her steadfast commitment not to contradict any official Roman Catholic doctrine. Yet at some points she seems too sympathetic to human suffering to embrace fully and enthusiastically doctrines that promote or excuse such suffering. She seems to struggle most painfully with the church's doctrine of eternal torment of human beings in Hell. She believes that God is perfect Love and Goodness, and recognizes that this doctrine, to say the least, stands in the utmost tension with the teaching of infinite cruelty inflicted by a perfect God on his own creatures. In an effort to alleviate, if not allay, this tension, she proclaims that God, being perfect love, cannot be angry, and therefore he himself does not consign people to eternal torment; rather, the damnable fault is human sin. God must by no means be blamed, however much he allows what many philosophers now call "gratuitous suffering", the extreme instance of which is torment in Hell. The claim that the torments of Hell are permitted by a perfectly good, loving God is ultimately inscrutable, but "Julian"contents herself--or at least seems to do so--with the mysterious claim, which was revealed to her by Jesus himself, that "All will be well; all will be well; all manner of things will be well." It is pitiful to observe the humane "Julian" struggling to suppress her natural moral and sympathetic sensibilities in the interest of accepting even the most abominable dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
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LibraryThing member Rumien
These accounts of the visions Julian saw are very unique and intense. I admit when I first read her writing, I was a little skeptical, but along my journey as the Holy Spirit leads and guides me, Julian's work comes back to me often... the intensity of how she describes these visions, how she
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mourns over the agony Christ went through as she becomes more aware of His great sacrafice and more understanding of His awesome divinity next to her humanity. Reading it is a ...startling experience - that's the best way I can describe it. But it's also a helpful way of realizing the magnitude of Christ's work. All the specific teachings/doctrine she shares through these revelations should, of course, be read along with the Scriptures to confirm if these concepts actually align with the teachings and doctrine of the Word.
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LibraryThing member Osbaldistone
Julian's writing 5-stars. I won't try to add to the description in other reviews, but want to offer advice when selecting an edition.

There is a generally accepting numbering system for Juilan's writings, but not all publications of "Revelations of Divine Love" include them (I was surprised to find
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that my 2015 OUP edition did not have the numbered text.. If you intend to use a guidebook along with the writings, be sure you get one with the text numbered.
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LibraryThing member atreic
All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well...

It feels slightly odd to write a book review of the divine revelations of Julian of Norwich. This is a translation of the long text, which describes the 16 revelations and contains the longer discussion on their
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meaning, 'anent certain points'. Julian's vision of a God of love is as famous as it is comforting.
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Original publication date

c. 1373

Original language

English (Middle)

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