EMMA PENNINGTON’s book is a joy to read, but it is not to be read quickly. It is a guide to some of the deepest insights that Julian of Norwich has offered in her immortal text Revelations of Divine Love, and would make an excellent accompaniment for any individual or group looking for a guide to prayer and reflection over a period of time.
Having offered some authoritative historical and theological context, Pennington explores Julian’s text from the tenth revelation onwards. To offer a taste: “The wound of Christ” has us entering, not just contemplating externally, Christ’s pierced side, and experiencing the outpouring of his love. “His dearest mother” offers a way to understand that the love that Christ has for her is the same and as strong as the love that he has for us. In “Christ our saviour”, Julian has a revelation that cannot be known with words, but only with experience, and yet she still manages to find words to lead us into the experience, and Pennington facilitates this beautifully.
In “All shall be well”, a cloud comes over the mystical vision of the transcendent God, and Julian wrestles with the reality of sin, and demands to understand why God would declare “all shall be well” when it really seems not to be. In “United to God through prayer”, Pennington gives a full and valuable account of different kinds of prayer. I am reminded of why I love contemplative prayer so much; for here we are freed from any notion of what God “ought” to be to us.
Pennington’s text is devotional, providing a practical application of Julian’s words to our spiritual lives and endeavours, and to our contemplation. Each chapter ends with reflections and questions, and, through these, Pennington makes the text of the Revelations participative, as the revelations themselves had invited Julian’s active participation. With Pennington’s guidance, we enter into Revelations of Divine Love fully. We cease to be critics and become disciples of the text. By this means, it gains the power to transform us, as Julian was herself transformed by her revelations.
Dr Claire Gilbert is the author of I, Julian: The fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich (Books, 6 April 2023), now available in paperback.
All Shall be Well: Visions of salvation with Julian of Norwich
Emma Pennington
BRF £12.99
(978-1-80039-206-9)
Church Times Bookshop £11.69
