Julian's Triadic Theology
Julian's Theology
described, I saw the bodily vision of the copious bleeding of the head persist." What is critically important here is her further comment in chapter 4 that "where Jesus appears the blessed Trinity is understood, as I see it." In her vision of the suffering Christ lies the source of all that she needs to see and know about God, about created reality, and about the human condition. In chapter 18 she comes to understand in the image of the suffering Christ the "great unity between Christ and us." In other words, in Christ's pain is his identification with human suffering.
In chapter 19 Julian describes how she wanted to look away from the crucifix. She felt secure contemplating the cross but she experienced an apparently friendly suggestion "to my reason" that she should take her eyes off the crucifix by her sickbed to "look up the heaven to his Father."
She rejects this option because, as she addresses Jesus on the cross, she affirms powerfully "No, I cannot, for you are my heaven." She does not desire to come to heaven "any other way than by him." In the following chapter, chapter 20, Julian effectively states that she came to understand that all she needed to know about God, "the glorious divinity," was to be found in the image of the suffering Christ.
Julian's Triadic Theology A second vital key to Julian's theology is her regular use of various triads.
Beyond Julian's explicit Trinitarian theology, it is worth noting in reference to her broader theological style that she employs three‐fold imagery
(that is, triads) in a range of other ways. Without question her overall use of three‐fold imagery echoes her rich theology of the Trinity as the in‐built meaning of everything. Indeed, it is reasonable to describe Julian's theology as in some sense triadic overall. A brief summary of examples will serve to illustrate this point.
Thus, in chapter 2, Julian describes how, before her revelations, she had desired three graces – a recollection of the Passion, bodily sickness, and, by God's gift, three wounds. These wounds were true contrition, loving compassion, and a longing for God. In chapter 5, Julian describes being shown "something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand." This proves to be "everything which is made." Julian notes that this image of all creation had three properties: that God made it, that God loves it, and that God preserves it. In chapter 7 when Julian had a "bodily vision of the copious bleeding of the [that is, Christ's] head" she notes that three things occurred to her. First, the drops were round like pellets. Second, "they were round like herring's scales as they spread" and, finally, "they were like raindrops off a house's eaves, so many that they could not be counted." In chapter 9, Julian notes that her