Julian of Norwich

I. What did you glean from the introduction?

2. How the visions came about: a priest's sermon on St. Cecilia's day prompts her to ask God for 3 gifts, including an illness where she will come close to death and therefore imitate Christ in his passion. (What are the other two?) At 30.5 she does experience a grave illness. She has the visions which she knows are at least partly psychological. She writes the Short Text (ST) describing the visions. 15-20 years later she produces the Long Text (LT).
3. The Text:
Why does Julian not want to die in her illness?
How are Julian's visions different from the other visions we've read about?
Does she want the actual wounds of Christ in her body?
What kind of a person does she strike you as, especially when she prays for suffering.

Chapter 4
What is Julian's first vision and how may it have arisen?
How does Julian portray Jesus? How does she see Mary?

Chapter 5
How does Julian relate to Jesus? Is her relationship erotic like some of the continental mystics?
How does Julian perceive the universe?
Julian sees God above all as tender and loving. Note the paragraphs, bottom 471.

Chapter 9
In what two ways does Julian manifest humility in this chapter?

Chapter 13

Why does Julian find the devil funny? Why doesn't Christ laugh?

Chapter 24
How does the wound in the side of Christ function for Julian? How does it anticipate the image of Christ as mother? What suggests a motive for Julian's desire to suffer with Christ in his passion?

Chapter 25
What is different in this vision of Mary from how Julian saw her in an earlier vision?
How is this vision related to the two earlier visions of Mary that Julian experienced?

Chapter 26
How does this chapter show Julian's joy in her visions? Is there any hint here of spiritual ecstasy?

Chapter 27
Why does Julian insist that sin is necessary?
How does she emphasize how horrible it is?
Julian's theology of the existence of evil is reflective of medieval Christian teaching. What does she say about its nature?
How does Julian's teaching show her belief in predestination?

Chapters 58-61
List the attributes of Jesus as Mother that are found in these chapters?
What is Julian's attitude toward motherhood in general? Be sure to find passages to support this response.
What does Julian mean when, in Chapter 58, she claims: "Our sensuality is only in the second person, Christ Jesus, in whom is the Fther and the Holy Spirit"?

Chapter 68
How does the metaphor of Jesus in the City of the Soul seem to reverse the images of the earlier chapters?
Find places where Julian insists that the spiritual privileges she has experienced belong to all her "even-Cristens."