Conclusion
Conclusion
preferring to be in London and in the service of the crown. Feudal lordship, based originally on a stable relationship with a specific place and with a defined group of dependent people, was in serious decline. In this context the "stability of God" offered a very different model of authentic lordship.18
The stability that Julian described in terms of God's relationship with humanity and with all created reality reflects God's inner stability. Julian's description of God‐as‐Trinity is in terms of God being supremely active in creation and in human lives. The inner life of God‐as‐Trinity involves a constant movement of relationships. Yet, at the same time, the Trinity also dwells in peace and stillness whether in heaven or the human soul.
"Now the Son, true God and true man, sits in his city in rest and in peace"
(chapter 51).
Conclusion In summary, Julian's theology of God‐as‐Trinity is fundamentally "practical" as is the whole of her theological teaching. The image of the Trinity in Julian is, as it were, the answer to the question of whether and how God is engaged with humanity and the world. The God of Julian's revelations is joyfully and purposefully involved in human history, in the smallest of human events, and in the lives of all of her "fellow Christians." While
God's inherent freedom demands that this involvement be a matter of God's own choice, it is nevertheless, for Julian, an aspect of God's happiness and fulfilment. In that sense, God's saving action in the world is not simply a revelation of God's inner nature as a community of persons. It is also the vehicle for mutual Trinitarian interaction. In this way, Julian draws together the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity. God's action is God's Trinitarian way of being.
A final question remains. Is the purpose of the "showings" merely to reassure Julian's fellow Christians that their own, individual status before God is secure? Interestingly, the image of God (in Jesus Christ) dwelling in the human soul may be interpreted as encouraging a self‐absorbed interiority. It is generally accepted that Julian's theology of God owes something to the legacy of Augustine. Augustine focused on the "traces" of the Trinity (vestigia Trinitatis), particularly in the soul of the individual human being. The question is whether this theme of interiority effectively undermines a theology and spirituality of engagement with the outer world. This is not the flavor of Julian's writings. Throughout these
Julian is moved by compassion for all her fellow Christians. That is her fundamental motive for writing. Consequently, the effect on Julian of her theology of God is not to drive her into self‐indulgent reverie but to