Julian of Norwich's Showings [Hardcover]

Denise Nowakowski Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 1994

The first woman known to have written in English, the fourteenth-century mystic Julian of Norwich has inspired generations of Christians with her reflections on the "motherhood" of Jesus, and her assurance that, despite evil, "all shall be well". In this book, Denise Baker reconsiders Julian not only as an eloquent and profound visionary but also as an evolving, sophisticated theologian of great originality. Focusing on Julian's Book of Showings, in which the author records a series of revelations she received during a critical illness in May 1373, Baker provides the first historical assessment of Julian's significance as a writer and thinker".Baker guides her reader ... through the intricacies of medieval devotional culture and theology; every point is made very thoroughly.... The rigor of this historical assessment is impressive".--Julian Gibbs, The [London] Times"Baker's book offers one of the fullest accounts so far of the theological genealogy and implications of Julian's Showings".--Karma Lochrie, American Historical Review"An important contribution to the study of women's intellectual achievements and to the history of the body; students of medieval theology will quarry its rich insight into Julian's Showings, a work of uncommon literary force and of enduring theological significance".--Anna Harrison, Crisis

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her detailed and densely written textual analysis of both the short and long forms of the mystic Julian of Norwich's Showings, Baker, a professor of English, sets out to prove that, between the visions themselves in A.D. 1373 and the construction of her long text 20 years later, Julian developed stylistically and theologically into a sophisticated writer and religionist. Baker's Julian sees a God tolerant of human sin and reincorporates sensuality into the Trinity through Christ as Mother. And finally, but not entirely convincingly, Baker discerns an elaborate rhetorical pattern in the long text that embodies the complexity of Julian's developed thought. Clearly a book for an academic audience, this still offers the general reader thoughtful insights into both the Showings and its milieu.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In a well-reasoned and -written study, Baker (English, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro) shows how Julian, the 14th-century Christian mystic and the first woman to write in English, reflected on the meaning of her experience. She transformed what was originally a small work that simply reported her visions into a theological treatise in which she speaks of the motherhood of Jesus and holds that "all will be well," teachings that have made her popular in recent years. Baker examines the influences on Julian but at the same time demonstrates that she was an original theologian in her own right. A modern version of the text can be found in the "Classics of Western Spirituality" series (Paulist, 1978). For scholarly collections.
Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, Newark, N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr; First Edition edition (August 8, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691036314
• ISBN-13: 978-0691036311
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,527,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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