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Revelations of Divine Love

Also known as: Showings, A Revelation of Love, The Revelations of Julian of Norwich

Mystical theology in two versions (the Short Text written soon after 1373, the Long Text revised across decades) by [[julian-of-norwich]] — the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman, and one of the most quietly radical theologies of divine compassion in the Christian tradition. Records sixteen visions Julian received during a near-fatal illness at age thirty and works out, with extraordinary care, what they meant. Develops the theology of the motherhood of God, the necessity of sin held inside the larger pattern of divine love, and the recurring promise that *all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well*. Almost lost — the Long Text was not printed until 1670 and circulated narrowly even then. The 20th century recovered it; T.S. Eliot quoted the *all shall be well* passage in *Little Gidding*; the book is now read across denominations and well beyond Christianity.

The book exists in two distinct versions. The Short Text (about 11,000 words) was written soon after Julian’s visions of May 1373 and treats the visions narratively, with relatively little theological reflection. The Long Text (about 63,000 words), revised across two or three decades of further reflection from her anchor-cell, is six times longer and substantially deeper — Julian working out, slowly and carefully, what each vision meant.

Sixteen showings are recorded, all received in the space of a few hours during what she expected to be her final illness. They range from intimate visions of the suffering Christ to expansive theological openings (the famous “[[hazelnut|hazelnut]]” vision in which all of creation is shown to her as a small thing in the palm of her hand, as small as a [[hazelnut|hazelnut]], and held in being by divine love).

What the book teaches

Three intertwined claims, developed over the Long Text’s many returning [[meditations-marcus-aurelius|meditations]]:

  1. The unshakability of divine love. The visions of the Passion turn, repeatedly, into visions of love — not love that ignores suffering, but love that bears it. Julian’s recurring refrain: Love was his meaning. Who showed it to thee? Love. What showed he thee? Love. Wherefore showed it he? For love.
  2. The motherhood of God. Across the Long Text Julian develops the claim that God is mother as fully and as properly as God is father — Christ is our true Mother in nature by our first creation; and he is our true Mother in grace by his taking our created nature. Not metaphor as ornament; substance.
  3. Sin and the optimism of love. Confronted with the question of why God permitted the Fall, Julian receives a phrase — Sin is behovely [necessary], but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well — that has carried across centuries. She holds the necessity of sin and the goodness of all that is in a tension that does not collapse.

Reception

The Long Text was almost lost. Few medieval copies survived; the work was first printed in 1670 by the Catholic dom Serenus Cressy and then circulated narrowly. The 20th century recovered it: Grace Warrack’s 1901 modernization, Evelyn Underhill’s championing, T.S. Eliot’s quotation of all shall be well in Little Gidding (1942) brought the book into general reading. It is now standard in contemplative-formation programs, taught across denominations, read by feminist theologians for the motherhood passages, and widely quoted in non-Christian contexts.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Written by: [[julian-of-norwich]]
  • Member of: [[book]]
  • Part of: [[christian-mysticism]]

Sources

  1. [[julian-of-norwich|Julian of Norwich]]. The Showings of [[julian-of-norwich|Julian of Norwich]]. Ed. Denise N. Baker. Norton Critical Editions, 2005. Source class: primary text / scholarly edition.
  2. [[julian-of-norwich|Julian of Norwich]]. Revelations of Divine Love. Trans. Elizabeth [[atlantic-silverside|Spearing]]. Penguin Classics, 1998. Source class: primary text / accessible translation.
  3. [[julian-of-norwich|Julian of Norwich]]. Revelations of Divine Love. Trans. [[mirabai|Mirabai]] Starr. Hampton Roads, 2013. Source class: primary text / contemporary translation.
  4. Denys Turner. [[julian-of-norwich|Julian of Norwich]], Theologian. Yale, 2011. Source class: book / theological study.

Lenses still to grow

  • The manuscript history — what survives, what was lost, the textual transmission.
  • The [[hazelnut|hazelnut]] vision as a piece of theology in its own right.
  • Julian’s influence on contemporary feminist theology — Sallie McFague, Elizabeth Johnson, Janet Soskice reading back through her motherhood passages.
  • The Eliot reception and the book’s mid-20th-century literary recovery.

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