How to Read Julian of Norwich / Ryan McAnnally-Linz

Julian of Norwich is known and loved for the lines revealed to her by God, “All shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” But beyond the comfort of this understandably uplifting phrase, what are theological and philosophical insights we might learn from this anonymous medieval Christian mystic and anchoress?
Ryan McAnnally-Linz joins Evan Rosa to discuss the historical context of Julian of Norwich, her life and vocation as an anchoress, and the story of near-death experience and subsequent mystical visions that led her to write such theologically rich and uplifting words-which comprise the earliest known writing by a woman in English. Together they have an extended discussion of a rather marvelous segment from the Long Text of the Revelation of Divine Love, sections 46-58, and in particular we look at the revelation Julian herself was most puzzled and mystified by during her own life, discovering understanding only decades after having received the vision: Section 51, the Parable of the Lord and the Servant.
Image Credit: adapted from The Lives of the Saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiboradain German, 1451-60. St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 602, p. 303.
Show Notes
• “All shall be well” as an introduction to Julian for many
• Rowan Williams on Julian as one of the greatest English language theologians
• Who was Julian? How she thinks and what we can draw from her for the purposes of theological insight and spiritual maturity?
• Found Julian in a medieval survey course and she has remained with him
• What caught you in Julian? Why did it stick with you?
• She synthesizes a visionary experience with deep theological reflection: subtle and sophisticated theologian; simplicity, earnestness, and virtuosity
• So give us a little bit of her biography. I know that we know precious little, but what do we know? And maybe give us some of the historical context of her?
• Couple of manuscripts of her writing; the short and the long text
• Margery Kempe visits Julian to make a request in The Book of Margery Kempe (d.lib.rocheste...)
• Anchoress and is attached to a church in Norwich; 1340s first and second waves of the Black Death; mass loss and trauma
• The text is less focused on herself outside of the visions that happen on what she believes is her death bed.
• What is the spiritual occupation of an anchoress or anchorite?
• Anchorite as isolated spiritual calling different from monks and hermits; life is in this one cell
• Do you know what motivations are there for that spiritual vocation in the church? Why would anyone do this?
• Anchorite ceremonies are like funeral rites; a death to the world, living only for prayer
• The showings - 16 visions; prays for mind of the passion, bodily sickness, and three wounds (contrition, compassion, and willful longing for God)
• The suffering of Christ and his wounds and their popularity in medieval devotional practice
• 16 showings that are intertwined and vary in form (visual, auditory, bodily, mental)
• The last showing, which she ponders for the rest of her life.
• What are some of the core philosophical, theological, or other concepts that are most salient for understanding Julian?
• Julian understands herself as beholden to the church, its teachings, and its tradition - wrestling with these and her visions.
• A Vision Shown to a Devout Woman by Julian (www.psupress.o...)
• A Revelation of Love by Julian (www.penguinran...)
• Augustinian tradition is appealed to-his teachings on evil and sin, Christian Platonism
• Julian as a Trinitarian thinker
• What would you say about her understanding of love?
• Later visions in life and praying for many years for understanding -Love is THE thing for Julian, it’s the whole thing.
• Love as joyful communion but also a passionate willingness to sacrifice for one’s beloved
• A Short Play: The Lord and the Servant (from the long text)
• Chapter 51 of the Long Text
• Red herrings in Julian; the medieval trope of enumerating
• The perplexing vision of the servant in the hole ?
• Reconciling the goodness of the world with sin; dealing with what she is seeing from God and what the church teaches about sin-wresting with the details
• The Fall, the “Felix Culpa” or the “Happy Fault,” and the servant in the hole
• God looks without blame and that complicates church teaching on sin; layers in the narrative, God, humanity, Christ
• Being drawn into the puzzling and the pondering experienced by Julian inspired by her writing; finding comfort in a loving God that we cannot see clearly
• How God sees
• “Our life and our being are in God.”
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