The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Foreword
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on Contributors
- ‘Oure feyth is groundyd in goddes worde’ – Julian of Norwich and the Bible
- ‘We are United with God (and God with Us?)’: Adapting Ruusbroec in The Treatise of Perfection of the Sons of God and The Chastising of God's Children
- The Structure of the Soul and the ‘Godly Wylle’ in Julian of Norwich's Showings
- ‘Neb … sumdeal ilich wummon & neddre is behinden’: Reading the Monstrous in the Anchoritic Text
- Reflections on Aspects of the Spiritual Impact of St Birgitta, the Revelations and the Bridgettine Order in Late Medieval England
- Holy Women in Print: Continental Female Mystics and the English Mystical Tradition
- The Reception of ContinentalWomen Mystics in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century England: Some Artistic Evidence
- Discretio spirituum in Time: The Impact of Julian of Norwich's Counsel in the Book of Margery Kempe
- ‘Thiself a cros to thiself’: Christ as Signum Impressum in the Cloud-Texts against the Background of Expressionistic Christology in Late Medieval Devotional Theology
- ‘The prophetycal lyf of an heremyte’: Elijah as the Model of the Contemplative Life in The Book of the First Monks
- ‘Makedes of me / wrecche þi leofmon & spuse’: Mystical Desire and Visionary Consummation
- Lordship, Service and Worship in Julian of Norwich
- ‘Hid Diuinite’: The Spirituality of the English Syon Brethren
- Index
The Structure of the Soul and the ‘Godly Wylle’ in Julian of Norwich's Showings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Foreword
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on Contributors
- ‘Oure feyth is groundyd in goddes worde’ – Julian of Norwich and the Bible
- ‘We are United with God (and God with Us?)’: Adapting Ruusbroec in The Treatise of Perfection of the Sons of God and The Chastising of God's Children
- The Structure of the Soul and the ‘Godly Wylle’ in Julian of Norwich's Showings
- ‘Neb … sumdeal ilich wummon & neddre is behinden’: Reading the Monstrous in the Anchoritic Text
- Reflections on Aspects of the Spiritual Impact of St Birgitta, the Revelations and the Bridgettine Order in Late Medieval England
- Holy Women in Print: Continental Female Mystics and the English Mystical Tradition
- The Reception of ContinentalWomen Mystics in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century England: Some Artistic Evidence
- Discretio spirituum in Time: The Impact of Julian of Norwich's Counsel in the Book of Margery Kempe
- ‘Thiself a cros to thiself’: Christ as Signum Impressum in the Cloud-Texts against the Background of Expressionistic Christology in Late Medieval Devotional Theology
- ‘The prophetycal lyf of an heremyte’: Elijah as the Model of the Contemplative Life in The Book of the First Monks
- ‘Makedes of me / wrecche þi leofmon & spuse’: Mystical Desire and Visionary Consummation
- Lordship, Service and Worship in Julian of Norwich
- ‘Hid Diuinite’: The Spirituality of the English Syon Brethren
- Index
Summary
MORE THAN FOUR DECADES AGO, Thomas Merton, the foremost contemplative of the twentieth century, acknowledged Julian of Norwich's preeminence as a mystic and a theologian.
There can be no doubt that Lady Julian is the greatest of the English mystics. Not only that, but she is one of the greatest English theologians. … Actually, in Julian of Norwich, we find an admirable synthesis of mystical experience and theological reflection … In a word, Julian of Norwich gives a coherent and indeed systematically constructed corpus of doctrine, which has only recently begun to be studied as it deserves.
Since Merton made this assertion in 1961, numerous studies of her Book of Showings have revealed that, despite Julian's description of herself as ‘a symple creature vnlettyrde’, she is extraordinarily learned. However, because she is writing theology in the vernacular and often chooses commonplace English words to translate their Latin equivalents, the erudition and subtlety of her thought is not yet fully appreciated. Although Julian's particular method of acquiring knowledge or her actual sources may not be discernible, her assimilation and augmentation of concepts from Latin theological discourse can be demonstrated. Two terms that Julian uses as metaphors for the structure of the soul provide especially important clues to her familiarity with this discourse: point and ground. As I shall demonstrate, Julian's topography of the soul not only proves her awareness of mystical theology, but also explains her concept of the ‘godly wylle’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Medieval Mystical Tradition in EnglandPapers Read at Charney Manor, July 2004 [Exeter Symposium VII], pp. 37 - 50Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2004