Premium
Julian of Norwich—Incorporated
Author(s) -
Bauerschmidt F.C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
modern theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.144
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1468-0025
pISSN - 0266-7177
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0025.00032
Subject(s) - revelation , popularity , mysticism , embodied cognition , reading (process) , philosophy , theology , epistemology , literature , religious studies , aesthetics , art , psychology , social psychology , linguistics
The fourteenth‐century anchoress Julian of Norwich currently enjoys an immense popularity, both among scholars and among those interested in personal spiritual growth. This essay argues that part of the reason for Julian’s popularity is that she is read under the category “mystic,” a category constructed to disembed religious thinkers from their traditions so as to give them a universal availability, yet which finally disembodies and depoliticizes them. The essay then offers a reading of Julian’s Revelation of Love which shows that Julian’s theology is a thoroughly embodied one, highly conscious of and concerned for the body of Christian believers for whom she writes.