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Re-imagining Redemption: Universal Salvation in the Theology of Julian of Norwich1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Maureen L. Walsh
Maureen L. Walsh
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
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Abstract

The revelations Julian of Norwich received in 1373 provided her with unique insight that transformed her understanding of the Christian faith and prompted her to re-imagine traditional notions of sin, God's love, and salvation in new ways. Her re-interpretation of these doctrines causes great anxiety for Julian inasmuch as what she learned from her showings was at odds with church teachings, particularly her new understanding of God's plan of salvation for all humanity. I argue that Julian develops a theology of universal salvation characterized by an open understanding of who will participate in the salvation of Christ, and this openness places Julian in tenuous relationship with the church of her day. Ultimately, Julian's trust that “all will be well” allows her to push beyond the tension between her insight and church teachings, in effect challenging the official teaching of no salvation for those outside the church.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , Fall 2012 , pp. 189 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2012

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References

2 Julian of Norwich, Showings, trans. Colledge, Edmund and Walsh, James (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1978), 1:175Google Scholar. I will be quoting from the Long Text (chapter:page number) unless otherwise noted. For the latest critical edition of Julian's text, see The Writings of Julian of Norwich, ed. Jenkins, Jacqueline and Watson, Nicholas (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006)Google Scholar.

3 Showings, 86:342Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., 7:186–187.

5 Ibid., 2:177.

6 Ibid., 2:178.

7 Ibid., 2:179.

8 Ibid., 32:233.

9 For example, Turner, Denys, Julian of Norwich, Theologian (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011)Google Scholar; Bauerschmidt, Frederick, Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999)Google Scholar; Jantzen, Grace, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian (New York: Paulist, 1987)Google Scholar; Lamm, Julia, “Revelation as Exposure in Julian of Norwich's Showings,” Spiritus 5 (2005): 54–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nuth, Joan, “Two Medieval Soteriologies: Anselm of Canterbury and Julian of Norwich,” Theological Studies 53 (1992): 611–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Watson, Nicholas, “Visions of Inclusion: Universal Salvation and Vernacular Theology in Pre-Reformation England,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 27 (1997): 145–46Google Scholar. After situating her writings in the context of other vernacular texts from the same era, Watson also argues that Julian offers a theology of universal salvation. He posits that these texts embody a universalist outlook due to the fact that they are written in horizontally-oriented Middle English vernacular as opposed to Latin, which he suggests inscribes hierarchy by its very nature (170-71). While Watson attends to the particulars of Julian's understanding of salvation in constructing his position, the central thesis of his argument is linguistically based. My argument supports many of the points Watson makes but is grounded in a close reading of Julian's theology and how it relates to the prevailing doctrinal beliefs of the church of her time rather than in the intricacies of Julian's indebtedness to the Middle English vernacular culture.

11 Showings, 32–33:233–34.

12 Cyprian of Carthage, “Letter 73,” in Early Latin Theology: Selections from Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, and Jerome, trans. and ed. Greenslade, S.L. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1956), 169Google Scholar.

13 Greenslade, S.L., “Cyprian: General Introduction,” Early Latin Theology, 115Google Scholar.

14 Cyprian of Carthage, “Letter 73,” 158. Augustine would, as is well known, come to disagree with Cyprian on the question of the validity of baptism for those Cyprian would have considered “outside the church.” For details on the development of the question of salvation outside the church with specific reference to the context and evolution of Cyprian's axiom, see Sullivan, Francis A., Salvation Outside the Church? Tracing the History of the Catholic Response (New York: Paulist, 1992)Google Scholar and Dupuis, Jacques, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001)Google Scholar.

15 Cyprian, “Letter 73,” 169.

16 Dupuis, Jacques, Christianity and the Religions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001), 203Google Scholar.

17 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) §14, in Tanner, Norman P., ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990), 2:860Google Scholar. Cf. Dupuis, , Christianity and the Religions, 204–06Google Scholar.

18 Showings, 27:225Google Scholar.

19 Ibid., 32:233.

20 Turner, Denys, in Julian of Norwich, Theologian (103–09)Google Scholar, prioritizes Julian's assertion that some people are condemned to hell and looks less favorably upon the argument presented here (and by others) that Julian has a universalist soteriological orientation.

21 Ibid., 49:264.

22 Ibid., Short Text, i:125.

23 Ibid., 37:241; 79:334.

24 Ibid., 28:226.

25 Ibid., 9:192.

26 Ibid., 25:222.

27 Ibid., 20:213 (emphases added).

28 Ibid., 9:192.

29 Ibid., 32:232–33; 36:238–41.

30 Ibid., 23:220.

31 Ibid., 5:183. The Jenkins and Watson critical edition of the Julian's text clarifies the difficult wording of these particular lines (Writings, 140–41).

32 Showings, 5:184Google Scholar.

33 Ibid., 5:183.

34 Ibid., 24:220.

35 Ibid., 49:264.

36 Ibid., 14:203.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid., 5:183.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid., 58:293.

41 Ibid., 57:292. This connection between the nature, or “kind,” of God with that of humanity has been explored by other scholars. For a discussion of the issue, see, for example, Bauerschmidt, Frederick, “Order, Freedom, and ‘Kindness’: Julian of Norwich on the Edge of Modernity,” Theology Today 60 (2003): 63–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 Showings, 26:224Google Scholar.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid., 27:225.

45 Ibid., 29:227.

46 Ibid., 50:266.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., 51:268.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid., 47:260.

53 A similar argument is put forth in Nuth, Two Medieval Soteriologies.

54 Showings, 29:228Google Scholar.

55 Jantzen, , Julian of Norwich, 90Google Scholar.

56 Showings, 20–23:214–18Google Scholar.

57 Ibid., 20:214.

58 Ibid., 7:187; 16:206.

59 Ibid., 12:199.

60 Ibid., 12:200.

61 Ibid., 20:213.

62 Ibid., 29:228.

63 Ibid., 23:219.

64 Ibid., 20:213 (emphasis added).

65 Ibid., 22:217.

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid., 23:220; 72:320.

68 Ibid., 23–24:218–21.

69 Ibid., 9:191–192.

70 Ibid., 8:190.

71 Ibid., 53:283 (emphases added).

72 Lamm, , “Revelation as Exposure in Julian of Norwich's Showings,” 54–78Google Scholar.

73 Showings, 6:186Google Scholar.

74 Ibid., 32:233.

75 Ibid, 30:228.

76 Ibid., 32:232–33.

77 Ibid., 34:235.

78 Ibid., 4:181.

79 Ibid., 45:256–58.

80 Ibid., 45:257.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid., 9:191.

83 Showings, Short Text, vi:135Google Scholar.

84 Bauerschmidt, , Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ, 76Google Scholar.

85 This is roughly the argument of Jantzen, , Julian of Norwich, 96–98Google Scholar.

86 Showings, 9:192Google Scholar.

87 Ibid., 1:176; 2:178; 9:191.

88 Ibid., 26:223.

89 Ibid., 34:235–36 (emphasis added).

90 Bauerschmidt, , Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ, 108–13Google Scholar.

91 Showings, 30:228Google Scholar.

92 Ibid., 86:342.

93 Ibid., 32:233.