Continuing to browse through Jack’s bookshelf, today we come to Lady Julian of Norwich, introduced to us by Dr. Grace Hamman, the author of “Jesus through Medieval Eyes”.
S7E23: “Jack’s Bookshelf: Julian of Norwich” (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Quote-of-the-week
And all shall be well and
— T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, Four Quartets
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
Biographical Information
Dr. Grace Hamman is a writer, speaker, and scholar with a passion for sharing the beauty and truth found in old books. Grace holds a doctorate in English, specialising in medieval literature and theology, from Duke University. Grace has written for several publications, including Plough Quarterly, Mere Orthodoxy, Dappled Things, Fathom, and academic journals and collections.
She has a podcast on old literature, theology, and their relevance to our lives today, called Old Books With Grace.
She recently published Jesus Through Medieval Eyes, where she meditates upon the medieval representations of Jesus in theology and literature, including those from our focus for today, Lady Julian of Norwich.
Biographical Information
Chit-Chat
- David said that this was the first female author on Jack’s Bookshelf, but it actually wasn’t as Andrew interviewed Dr. Chrystal Downing about Dorothy L. Sayers last season! David will be on bread and water for a month.
Toast
Discussion
01. “Who’s that girl?”
Q. Would you mind introducing Lady Julian to us? Who was she and why does she have a boy’s name?!
- Lady Julian (Wikipedia) was an Anchorite and “Julian” might not have even been her real name!
- Revelations of Divine Love by Lady Julian of Norwich
02. “What’s in a name?”
Q. Why do we not know whether or not Julian was her name?
- Lady Julian was visited by Margery Kempe (Wikipedia)
03. “Significance”
Q. What makes Lady Julian such an important author?
- First female writer in English
04. “Notoriety”
Q. Did Revelations of Divine Love make a splash when it was first made available?
- Julian was writing in something of a turbulent time. John Wycliffe (Wikipedia) had recently caused controversy with his English Bible.
- Walter Hilton (Wikipedia) was a mystical writer prior to Lady Julian who received greater circulation.
05. “Encountering Julian”
Q. When did you come across her work yourself, and what about it got you hooked?
- Dr. Grace read Lady Julian for the first time along with The Vision of Piers Plowman by William Langland (Wikipedia)
06. “Formation”
Q. Do we know any works that could have shaped or influenced her?
- Richard Rolle (Wikipedia) write shortly before Lady Julian and she seems to possibly responding to some of his ideas.
- The Confessions of St. Augustine was very popular and Julian interacts with a lot of his ideas.
07. “What to expcet”
Q. Could you give us a sketch of her work? If someone were to pick it up, what should they expect to find?
- Geoffrey Chaucer (Wikipedia)
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
08. “Influencing Lewis”
Q. In what ways did she influence C.S. Lewis?
I have been reading this week the ‘Revelations’ of Mother Julian of Norwich (14th century); not always so profitable as I had expected, but well worth reading. This is a curious vision ‘Also He showed me a little thing, the bigness of a hazelnut, in my hand. I thought, What may this be? And it was answered, it is all that is made. I marvelled how it might last, for me thought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness.’ Now that is a good turn given to the monkish (or indeed Christian) view of the whole created universe: for to say that it is bad, as some are inclined to do, is blasphemous and Manichean—but to say that it is small (with the very odd dream twist ‘so small it might fall to bits’), that seems just right. Very odd too is her doctrine of ‘the Grand Deed’. Christ tells her again and again ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ She asks how it can be well, since some are damned. He replied that all that is true, but the secret grand deed will make even that ‘very well’. ‘With you this is impossible, but not with Me.’
C.S. Lewis, Letter to Warnie Lewis (21st March, 1940)
- “All shall be well” is quoted in several places, including The Great Divorce.
Sin is behoovely [necessary/unavoidable/inevitable/fitting], but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
Lady Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
- The Parable of the Lord and the Servant by Julian of Norwich
My mood changes about this. Sometimes it seems mere drive…. But then at other times it has the unanswerable, illogical convincingness of things heard in a dream and appeals to what is one of my deepest convictions, viz. that reality always escapes prediction by taking a line which was simply not in your thought at all… At any rate, this book excites me.
C.S. Lewis, Letter to Warnie Lewis, (21st March, 1940)
09. “How to begin?”
Q. If someone has never read Julian of Norwich before, how would you recommend they begin?
- Julian of Norwich: Showings (Classics of Western Spirituality) by Julian of Norwich
10. “Jesus Through Medieval Eyes”
Q. I didn’t want to end today without setting some time aside to talk about your book, Jesus Through Medieval Eyes. Would you mind telling us about it?
–
Wrap-Up
More Information
- Grace Hamman – Website
- Grace Hamman – Substack
- “Old Books with Grace” podcast
- Grace Hamman – Instagram
- Grace Hamman – Twitter
