Julian of Norwich Part II

Julian's Church

As a devout Christian Julian was fiercely loyal to the church. Her writings are filled with praise for the doctrines and unquestioning confidence in the authority of the church. Julian is sincere in her wish to remain within the doctrines of the church. It was from the church, after all, that she learned about God in Christ. Julian and all around her, had to rely entirely on the church for understanding of all matters of faith.

But in all things I believe as holy church preaches and teaches. For the faith of holy church, which I had beforehand understood – and, as I hope, by the grace of God willfully kept its use and custom – remained continually in my sight, willing and meaning never to receive anything that might be contrary thereto." Chapter 9.

Nevertheless, these revelations from Jesus seemed to contradict church teachings.

Christians were (and still are in many settings) taught that Jesus’ sufferings were our fault. Our sinning brought Jesus to the cross and every moment of our lives must be spent in sorrow for the torment we caused our Lord. Jesus suffered as he did in obedience to the Father, not for love of us. 

Christian laity in the 13^th and 14^th centuries did not have access to Scripture. Individuals who knew no Latin were unable to read the Bible themselves. For lay persons to read Scripture was not encouraged; even many clerics were quite ignorant of its content.  It was up to the hierarchy of the church to share and interpret such Biblical passages as they deemed appropriate. As we know, this tension around access to Scripture became increasingly fraught as the years passed.

John Wyclif from 1374 to his death in 1384 agitated for a vernacular Bible. He and a group of Oxford dons translated the first English Bible, excerpts of which were distributed in pamphlet form by his flowers, known as the Lollards. Church and state together cracked down on Wyclif who died of natural causes several years before 70 of his followers were hanged.

The fate of these proto-Protestants would have been known to Julian. Still she persisted to write down everything revealed to her by Christ. It can’t have been easy to have to choose between what Jesus is showing her and what the church has so clearly taught. Whenever she could, she assured the reader that her trust was in the church’s teachings.

Her faith was heroic. She was certain that she received the word of God. She questioned Jesus and persisted in every point on which she was unclear. Jesus rewarded her with life-changing insights.

He was happy to suffer for our Redemption. His love was most like a Mother’s love. He looked at sinners with tenderness and pity. But he did not see the sin.

Although they do not specifically contradict church teachings, it is safe to say that the early 14^th Century church would not have been comfortable with these revelations to Julian. Yet somehow she escaped scrutiny. She wrote of her showings. Copies were made. People came to her for spiritual help. She was in solitude but she was not in hiding.

Certainly God was looking out for Julian, keeping her safe. But I think God was also looking out for us, the citizens of the 20th and 21st Centuries who would need her revelations.

Julian struggled mightily to align her understanding of the showings with the teachings of the church which she loved and trusted. But she loved and trusted Jesus more. And this brings us to the third theme in Julian’s writing and tomorrow’s topic: God’s revelation of love.