Notes
Notes What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing?
Know it well, love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love.
What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of the same. But you will never know different, without end.
Notes 1 On the Black Death as God's punishment for our essentially sinful lives, see for example, Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press, 1987, pp 208–218; also Richard Kieckhefer, Unquiet Souls: Fourteenth Century Saints and their Religious Milieu,
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp 1–3.
2 See Cur Deus Homo, in S.N. Deane, ed., Saint Anselm: Basic Writings, 2nd edition, LaSalle, IL: Open Court Publishing, 1962.
3 For example, see Edmund Colledge & James Walsh, eds., A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1978, Part One, pp 105–106; also Nicholas Watson & Jacqueline Jenkins, eds., The Writings of Julian of Norwich, University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006, p 154 and notes to Long Text
Chapters 27 and 32; also Kerrie Hide, Gifted Origins to Graced Fulfillment:
The Soteriology of Julian of Norwich, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001, pp 184–190; also Denys Turner, Julian of Norwich, Theologian, New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011, Chapter 4, pp 103–109; also Grace Jantzen, Julian of Norwich, 2nd edition, London: SPCK, 2000, pp 178–179; and Joan M. Nuth, Wisdom's Daughter: The Theology of Julian of Norwich,
New York: Crossroad, 1991, pp 18–19 & 162–169.
4 See John the Scot (Johannes Scotus Eriugena), Periphyseon on the Division of Nature, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011. There are helpful comments in the Introduction by Jean A. Potter, pp xxxiii–xl. I am grateful to Bernard McGinn for drawing my attention to Eriugena's defense of universalism.
5 See Edmund Colledge & James Walsh, eds., A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1978, Part One, pp 105–106.
6 See Barry Windeatt, ed., Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love, Oxford: Oxford University Pres, 2016.
7 See Turner, p 105.
8 See Jantzen, pp 178–179.
9 See Nuth, p 164.
10 Nuth, p 165.
Chapter 7 Prayer: A Journey of Desire A final important theme in this study of Julian of Norwich's theology is her rich teaching on prayer and more broadly on the spiritual journey. As I indicated in the Introduction, there are theological implications to the way Julian approaches the subject of prayer‐as‐relationship.
A fundamental question is how she defines the nature of prayer and then, more generally, deals with the practice of prayer. Prayer is the main focus of chapters 41–43 of the Long Text which form the beginning of what is commonly known as the Fourteenth Revelation. In addition, the subject of prayer is treated somewhat differently in the equivalent section of the Short Text and is briefly touched upon in other parts of the Long Text.
In their scholarly edition of Julian's two texts, Colledge and Walsh suggest that there is a notable contrast between her treatment of prayer in the Short Text and in the Long Text. Thus, in chapter xix of the Short
Text, under the category of "prayer" she includes a range of approaches.
These include vocal prayer (such as the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo) and petitionary prayer focussed on the well‐being of her
"evenchristen." Colledge and Walsh then compare this with Julian's approach in her Long Text where they consider that she is less concerned with her own experiences and practices of prayer than with God's intention.1 However, other Julian scholars such as Ritamary Bradley feel that this contrast between the two texts is too sharply drawn.2
What immediately occurs to the many contemporary readers of Julian's Long Text is that she does not focus on prayer merely as a spiritual practice or discuss specific methods of prayer. Rather, for Julian the notion of "prayer" expresses something far deeper and more extensive. Prayer is a relationship rather than a set of practices. Indeed, "prayer" is the word that Julian uses to describe our life‐long relationship with God and God's relationship with us. This relationship may at times be revelatory. It is also, as we shall see, associated with our persistent longing and desire
Julian of Norwich: "In God's Sight" – Her Theology in Context, First Edition. Philip Sheldrake.
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