This session covered aspects of Julian’s positive and pastoral theology.
“I saw Everlasting certainty powerfully sustained without any fear… at peace and rest… then my mind turned and I was disgusted with myself. I could go on in faith, hope and charity, but feel them so little.”
“God keeps us safe in sorrow and joy. . . and sin is not always the cause . . . but both came from one love.”
Her writing is often candid and unreserved – forcing the reader to think into categories and ideas previously never considered.
Jesus said to Julian, “If I could suffer more I would.”
Not so much as Jesus saying he has suffered now all must come to him, but a little twist in the imagination with Julian shows Christ as willing to suffer more, again and again.
It’s not “I’ve done it now respond, but I’ve done it and I would do it again.
In this way she highlights a Western tradition blindspot: Atonement is more than a fact.
Hyper-emotionality, common among many younger people.
In this way, Julian makes us think less about the punitive and more about Christ’s intentionality.
We discussed prayer: It is not for control freaks; it is not managerial.
Exercises:
Am I satisfied Jesus suffered for me?
Which of Julian’s points on prayer resonate most with me?
These quickly scribbled notes (which will contain my mistakes) come from my recent retreat at the Mary and Martha Society (Sheldon) in South Devon, led by Rev. Dr. Stephen Cherry. The book we used was Revelations of Divine Love by Barry Windeatt.
Gralefrit Theology 
I’ve been listening to her Revelations recently. Along the way, I’ve been struck by the gruesome imagery of Christ’s suffering she experienced in her visions and the tumult of her emotions (which, no doubt, would be psychopathologised today). Her description of evil as no-thing is particularly interesting, not because it trivialises it, but because suddenly it reveals evil to be a con – despite the chaos it wreaks. In a sense, she seems to suggest, if God is the only actual Doer in the world, and if all he does and creates is good, then evil has no place in reality. I’m not sure how to square the circle of what she’s saying. I don’t think it’s not true, it’s just very contrary to how we experience life…