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Sin will be no shame: Julian of Norwich's theology of sin
Spiritual Life, Fall 2000 by Gore, Michael
JULIAN OF NORWICH HAS CAPTURED the modern imagination. Although almost nothing is known concerning her personal life, the book that she wrote almost six hundred years ago has proven to be of immense benefit to swelling numbers of contemporary people. Julian tells us very little about herself. In her book, Revelations of Divine Love, also known simply as Showings, she provides scant information concerning her life prior to the events recounted in her book. She does not even tell us her name. Her anchorhold, or cell, was attached to St. Julian's church in Norwich, England, and so it is due to her association with that church that she is known as Julian.1 She does tell us that she was about thirty and one-half years old when she received her visions on May 13, 1373. If this is the case, then she must have been born in 1342.
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Julian lived as an anchoress, a sort of recluse confined to a small house or single room, often attached to the side of a local church. The term comes from the Greek anachoreo, to retire.2 As an anchoress, she chose to live a life set apart from the world and dedicated to a special vocation of prayer and devotion to God. The surrounding community, and the anchoress herself, considered her as dead to the world. She lived now for the sake of God alone. Her enclosure in the anchorhold required the permission of the local bishop. He performed an elaborate ceremony, including the Last Rites, and concluded by bolting the door from the outside. The anchorhold became Julian's tomb.
Her Life
Julian's life as an anchoress would have differed from that of a hermit or recluse. A hermit was more or less free to wander from place to place, while a recluse, on the other hand, spent her or his life completely secluded and separate from the world. Julian, under penalty of excommunication, remained in her cell until she died. But as Grace Jantzen points out in her book Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian, Julian still served a purpose for those in the world outside:
It was, however, taken for granted, that their [anchoresses] prayers would include intercession for the town in which they lived, and that they would be available to offer counsel to those who came to the anchorhold seeking it. They might in one sense be "dead to the world," but they were not to be useless towards it, and their usefulness entailed clearsighted awareness of its doings.3
Thus, Julian acted as a kind of counselor or spiritual advisor to her local community. Rich and poor alike sought her out for comfort and guidance.
Her life as anchoress would have been governed by some sort of rule, several of which existed. The most popular of these, and the one Julian probably followed, is the Ancrene Riwle. Written early in the thirteenth century, it provided detailed instructions concerning the life an anchoress should live.4 In accordance with the Ancrene Riwle, Julian's anchorhold consisted of a suite of rooms. Within Julian's room stood an oratory with a altar. Upon the altar, which was covered with a white cloth as a symbol of chastity, rested a crucifix. Food and clothing were very simple.
Generally, Julian would have eaten two meals a day between Easter and Holy Cross Day (September 14). During the rest of the year, she would have taken only one meal a day. A servant, who occupied one of the rooms, cooked, cleaned, and shopped for Julian. Julian would then have been released from these tasks to devote herself to prayer.
The Ancrene Riwle allowed Julian's anchorhold three windows. One window looked into the church and through it she followed the service and received the Holy Sacrament. The second opened to the world outside and allowed access to those seeking counsel from Julian. The final window opened into the servant's quarters, providing a means of communication and companionship. Many anchorholds also had small gardens in which the anchoress walked.
Julian lived in a time of social, political, and religious upheaval. The Black Death swept through Norwich at least three times during Julian's lifetime. Some reports from the period indicate that half the population of Norwich died.5 The clergy were unable to cope with the large numbers of the dead. Cities such as Norwich suffered greater devastation from the Black Death than did others due to the high concentration of people and unsanitary living conditions. Concurrent with the Black Death was severe disease among cattle and several years of disastrous harvests. Events finally culminated in the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. The city of Norwich saw its churches and monasteries looted.
The institution of the church was also in disarray. The Great Schism erupted in 1377, creating two rival popes, one in France and the other in Rome. In England, the preacher John Wyclif condemned the corruption of the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the church. Wyclif s translation of the Scriptures into English earned him the accusation of heresy. Wyclif's followers, the Lollards, continued stirring up trouble. They believed, as had Wyclif, that religion should be made available to the people and so began to preach in the vernacular. The Lollards also expressed a deep devotion to the human nature of Jesus, a sentiment shared by Julian in her book. In 1397, the bishop of Norwich received permission to execute all Lollards captured. The Lollard's Pit, where they were burned alive, was only half a mile from Julian's cell. That, in the midst of such suffering and turmoil, Julian could have written a book of such profound hope and assurance in God's mercy and goodwill is a testimony to the power and wisdom of her knowledge and insight.
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