Sin will be no shame: Julian of Norwich's theology of sin

Spiritual Life, Fall 2000 by Gore, Michael

And though we may be angry, and the contrariness which is in us be in tribulation, distress and woe, as we fall victims to our blindness and our evil propensities, still we are sure and safe by God's merciful protection, so that we do not perish. But we are not blessedly safe, possessing our endless joy, until we are in peace and in love, that is to say wholly contented with God and with all his works and with all his judgments, and loving and content with ourselves and with our fellow Christians and with everything which God loves, as is pleasing to love. And God's goodness does this in us.34

Julian of Norwich, who lived in a time remote and strange to the modern world, has nonetheless become for many modern people a symbol of hope. That hope does exist, that sin and evil can be overcome, is the essence of her message. God remains close to the human community, as close as the pain, suffering, and confusion that all its members experience. Julian, through her visions, demonstrates the concern and closeness of God, pleading with all those who share her faith in God to rest in the assurance that, finally, all shall be well.

NOTES

1. Brant Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning: The Theology and Mysticism of Julian of Norwich (Salzburg, Austria: Institut Fur Anglistik Und Americanistik Universitat Salzburg, 1982), p. 9.

2. Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning, p. 10.

3. Grace M. Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian (New York: Paulist Press, 1988), p. 29.

4. Ibid., p. 30.

5. Michael Mclean, Who Was Julian o Nforwich? A Beginner's Guide(Norwich, England:

Julian Shrine Publications, 1984), p. 3.

6. Julian of Norwich, Showings, Translated by Edmund Colledge andJames Walsh (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), p. 177.

7. Jantzen, Mystic and Theologian, p. 20.

8. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 247.

9. Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning, pp. 158-161.

10. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 224.

11. Ibid., p. 225.

12. Ibid.

13. Jantzen, Mystic and Theologian, p. 181.

14. Ibid.

15. Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning, p. 157.

16. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 166.

17. Ibid., p. 242.

18. Jantzen, Mystic and Theologian, p. 186.

19. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 267.

20. Ibid., p. 270.

21. Ibid., p. 268.

22. Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning, p. 310.

23. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 269.

24. Ibid., pp. 274-275.

25. Pelphrey, Love Was His Meaning, p. 311.

26. Julian of Norwich, Showings, p. 275.

27. John A. Sanford, The Man Who Wrestled

With God (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), p. 133.

28. Ibid., p. 118.

29. Elaine Pagels,The Politics of Paradise," The New York Review, May 12, 1988, p. 32.

30. Sanford, The Man Who Wrestled, p. 118.

31. Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries (New York: Perennial Library, Harper & Row, 1987), p. 68.

32. Matthew Fox, The Comingof the Cosmic Christ (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), p. 109.

33. Pagels, "Politics," p. 28.

34. Julian of Norwich, Showings, pp. 264-65.

Michael Gore is employed at a continuum of care facility that offers independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care. He works in the unit for those residents with memory impairment. He is married and has three children. He has had a lifelong interest in spirituality and writes in his spare time.