She understands the Trinity as our maker, our protector and our everlasting lover.

Julian speaks about God in homely, intimate ways. Julian’s Shewings became the first book ever written by a woman in the English language. She did so even though it was strictly forbidden for an uneducated lay person (especially a woman) to write or teach theology in the vernacular. Because she was “unlettered” (unable to read or write Latin), she wrote in Middle English, the language of the lay folk, her evencristens. Over many years and in two versions, the Short and the Long Text, Julian recorded her 16 Shewings. Thomas Merton called Julian “one of the most wonderful of all Christian voices” and “the greatest English theologian.” She also heard Christ speak directly to her, interiorly. In 1373, at the age of 30, Julian became deathly ill and experienced visions of Christ’s suffering on the cross. She survived five cycles of the plague that eventually killed half the population of Europe, and she witnessed first-hand the brutalities of the peasant revolt in Norwich. She was probably a merchant-class wife and mother before she became enclosed as an anchorite in her 50s. Julian of Norwich lived in the 14th century during the Hundred Years War between England and France.

And because we have been loved in God’s mind “from without beginning,” as Julian puts it, so “in this love our life is everlasting.” Julian understood that love was the meaning of all Christ’s revelations. They bear witness that we are created in love, redeemed by love and enclosed within love. Why is this? I think because Julian’s Shewings are, above all, a gospel of love. During the past century, the explosion of interest in the Shewings (or Revelations) of Julian of Norwich has been astounding.

Julian of norwich shewings