Editing Julian of Norwich (section)

== Theology ==
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|author = Julian of Norwich
|source = ''Revelations of Divine Love''{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=220}}
| quote = From the time these things were first revealed I had often wanted to know what was our Lord's meaning. It was more than fifteen years after that I was answered in my spirit's understanding. "You would know our Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well. Love was His meaning. Who showed it to you? Love. What did He show you? Love. Why did He show it? For love. Hold on to this and you will know and understand love more and more. But you will not know or learn anything else{{snd}}ever."}}

Julian of Norwich is now recognised as one of England's most important mystics;{{sfn|Pelphrey|1989|p=14}} according to Leyser, she was the greatest English anchoress.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=218}} For the theologian [[Denys Turner]] the core issue Julian addresses in ''Revelations of Divine Love'' is "the problem of sin". Julian says that sin is [[wikt:behovely|''behovely'']], which is often translated as "necessary", "appropriate", or "fitting".{{sfn|Watson|Jenkins|2006|p=208}}{{sfn|Turner|2011|p=52}}

Julian lived in a time of turmoil, but her theology was optimistic and spoke of God's [[omnibenevolence]] and love in terms of joy and [[compassion]]. ''Revelations of Divine Love'' "contains a message of optimism based on the certainty of being loved by God and of being protected by his Providence".<ref name="Benedict">{{cite speech |author=Pope Benedict XVI |author-link=Pope Benedict XVI |title=Julian of Norwich |date=1 December 2010 |location=Vatican City |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101201.html |access-date=15 January 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301164258/http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20101201.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

A characteristic element of Julian's mystical theology was her equating divine love with motherly love, a theme found in the Biblical prophets, as in [[Isaiah 49]]:15.<ref name=Benedict /><ref>{{Bibleverse|Isaiah|49:15}}. Oremus Bible Browser. [[New Revised Standard Version]]</ref><!-- Windeatt xxxi, Sheldrake 12--> According to Julian, God is both our mother and our father. As the [[Medieval studies|medievalist]] [[Caroline Walker Bynum]] shows, this idea was also developed by [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] and others from the 12th{{nbsp}}century onward.{{sfn|Bynum|1984|pp=111{{ndash}}112}} Bynum regards the medieval notion of Jesus as a mother as being a [[metaphor]] rather than a literal belief.{{sfn|Bynum|1984|p=130}} In her fourteenth revelation, Julian writes of the [[Trinity]] in domestic terms, comparing Jesus to a mother who is wise, loving and merciful. Author Frances Beer asserted that Julian believed that the maternal aspect of Christ was literal and not metaphoric: Christ is not like a mother, he is literally the mother.{{sfn|Beer|1992|p=152}} Julian emphasised this by explaining how the bond between mother and child is the only earthly relationship that comes close to the relationship a person can have with Jesus.{{sfn|Beer|1992|p=155}} She used metaphors when writing about Jesus in relation to ideas about conceiving, giving birth, weaning and upbringing.{{sfn|D-Vasilescu|2018|p=13}}

Julian wrote, "For I saw no wrath except on man's side, and He forgives that in us, for wrath is nothing else but a perversity and an opposition to peace and to love."{{sfn|Beer|1998|p=45}} She wrote that God sees us as perfect and waits for the day when human souls mature so that evil and sin will no longer hinder us,{{sfn|Beer|1998|p=50}} and that "God is nearer to us than our own soul". This theme is repeated throughout her work: "Jesus answered with these words, saying: 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' ... This was said so tenderly, without blame of any kind toward me or anybody else."{{sfn|Skinner|1997|pp=54{{ndash}}55, 124}}

Her status as an anchoress may have prevented contemporary monastic and university authorities from challenging her theology.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|pp=8{{ndash}}9}} A lack of references to her work during her own time may indicate that she kept her writings with her in her cell, so that religious authorities were unaware of them.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=32}} The 14th-century English cardinal [[Adam Easton]]'s ''Defensorium sanctae birgittae'', Alfonso of Jaen's ''Epistola Solitarii'', and the English mystic [[William Flete]]'s ''Remedies against Temptations'', are all referenced in Julian's text.{{sfn|Holloway|2016|pp=97{{ndash}}146}}