S7E23– AH –”Jack’s Bookshelf: Julian of Norwich”, After Hours with Grace Hamman

Continuing to browse through Jack’s bookshelf, today we come to Lady Julian of Norwich, introduced to us by Dr. Grace Hamman, the author of “Jesus through Medieval Eyes”.

S7E23: “Jack’s Bookshelf: Julian of Norwich” (Download)

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Show Notes

Introduction

Quote-of-the-week

And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

— T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding, Four Quartets

Biographical Information

Dr. Grace Hamman is a writer, speaker, and scholar with a passion for sharing the beauty and truth found in old books. Grace holds a doctorate in English, specialising in medieval literature and theology, from Duke University. Grace has written for several publications, including Plough Quarterly, Mere Orthodoxy, Dappled Things, Fathom, and academic journals and collections. 

She has a podcast on old literature, theology, and their relevance to our lives today, called Old Books With Grace. 

She recently published Jesus Through Medieval Eyes, where she meditates upon the medieval representations of Jesus in theology and literature, including those from our focus for today, Lady Julian of Norwich.

Biographical Information

Chit-Chat

Toast

Discussion

01. “Who’s that girl?”

Q. Would you mind introducing Lady Julian to us? Who was she and why does she have a boy’s name?!

02. “What’s in a name?”

Q. Why do we not know whether or not Julian was her name?

03. “Significance”

Q. What makes Lady Julian such an important author?

  • First female writer in English

04. “Notoriety”

Q. Did Revelations of Divine Love make a splash when it was first made available?

05. “Encountering Julian”

Q. When did you come across her work yourself, and what about it got you hooked?

06. “Formation”

Q. Do we know any works that could have shaped or influenced her?

07. “What to expcet”

Q. Could you give us a sketch of her work? If someone were to pick it up, what should they expect to find?

08. “Influencing Lewis”

Q. In what ways did she influence C.S. Lewis?

I have been reading this week the ‘Revelations’ of Mother Julian of Norwich (14th century); not always so profitable as I had expected, but well worth reading. This is a curious vision ‘Also He showed me a little thing, the bigness of a hazelnut, in my hand. I thought, What may this be? And it was answered, it is all that is made. I marvelled how it might last, for me thought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness.’ Now that is a good turn given to the monkish (or indeed Christian) view of the whole created universe: for to say that it is bad, as some are inclined to do, is blasphemous and Manichean—but to say that it is small (with the very odd dream twist ‘so small it might fall to bits’), that seems just right. Very odd too is her doctrine of ‘the Grand Deed’. Christ tells her again and again ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ She asks how it can be well, since some are damned. He replied that all that is true, but the secret grand deed will make even that ‘very well’. ‘With you this is impossible, but not with Me.’

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Warnie Lewis (21st March, 1940)

Sin is behoovely [necessary/unavoidable/inevitable/fitting], but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Lady Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

My mood changes about this. Sometimes it seems mere drive…. But then at other times it has the unanswerable, illogical convincingness of things heard in a dream and appeals to what is one of my deepest convictions, viz. that reality always escapes prediction by taking a line which was simply not in your thought at all… At any rate, this book excites me.

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Warnie Lewis, (21st March, 1940)

09. “How to begin?”

Q. If someone has never read Julian of Norwich before, how would you recommend they begin?

10. “Jesus Through Medieval Eyes”

Q. I didn’t want to end today without setting some time aside to talk about your book, Jesus Through Medieval Eyes. Would you mind telling us about it?

Wrap-Up

More Information

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Posted in After Hours Episode, David, Podcast Episode, Season 7 and tagged , .

After working as a Software Engineer in England for several years, David moved to the United States in 2008, where he settled in San Diego. Then, in 2020 he married his wife, Marie, and moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Together they have a son, Alexander, who is adamant that Narnia should be read publication order.