Julian of Norwich as a Modern Day Witness
Julian of Norwich as a Modern Day WitnessJulian of Norwich As A Modern Day Witness
I have chosesn “A Book of Showings” by Julian of Norwich as my reader response topic because her writings have struck me as the most interesting because of her place in history as an anchoress as well as what she has to say as far as her faith. What she says in her book have touched me to the heart as well as in the mind because I, being a person of faith am often embarrassed to declare myself a member of a church and she gets to the heart of things.
As an anchoress, Julian escaped from the world and all of the influences in it and she found solitude in her faith. This was difficult then as it is now. While I don’t feel that secluding onesself from the world is necessarily a good thing, for Julian it was. First of all, the conflicts that were going on between the Catholic and Protestant church were confusing to the average people of England and oftentimes they were swayed by what was popular belief and not what they truly felt. Julian’s seclusion allowed her to discover exactly what she believed and to stick to it.
Whether or not her visions were real, I find her interpretations of them inspiring. In Chapter 3, Julian sees Christ and His crown of thorns with blood flowing down and she finds peace in the prospect of death. At one point she says, “I saw that he is to us all thing that is good and comfortable to our help”(358). It shows her peace with death and the comfort in knowing that Christ is her comforter. It seems hard to believe that just anyone would be peaceful at the prospect of a painful death without a greater being there giving the peace and the comfort.
Julian refers to Christ as homely and courteous which seems odd, but at the same time it reveals the closeness that is possible with Christ. He is not just a being somewhere out there and He isn’t just a prophet who came to earth, according to Julian, he is a friend, someone who can be as close as you want Him to be.
Julian also refers to sin in her writings and I find her concept of that interesting because as humans, we want to believe that sin is not real and that we are not capable of it because we are not murderers, rapists, or robbers.”Often I wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the beginning of sin was not letted” (360). She portrays that misunderstanding on our part and recognizes and allows for it, rather than arguing it or stating a fact or a truth. It is purely a question on her part. At that time and every year after, religious people have tried...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.