This is a gateway to the spirituality of the 12th century English mystic offering groundbreaking feminine images of God and the assurance that in God's unbounded love and mercy "all things will be well".

The fourteenth-century anchorite known as Julian of Norwich offered fervent prayers for a deeper understanding of Christ's passion. The holy woman's petitions were answered with a series of divine revelations that she called "shewings." Her mystic visions revealed Christ's sufferings with extreme intensity, but they also confirmed God's constant love for humanity and infinite capacity for forgiveness. Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love have had a lasting influence on Christian thought. Written in immediate, compelling terms, her experiences remain among the most original and accessible expressions of medieval mysticism. This edition contains both the short text, which is mainly an account of the shewings and Julian's initial analysis of their meaning, and the long text, completed some 20 years later and offering daringly speculative interpretations.

In this beautiful and broken world, God is here. The heavens declare the glory of God . . . but are we listening? Yes, God created this world, but sometimes we forget that he hasn’t left—that his redemptive, creative work happens still today, right here under our feet. So when we seek for God and study his truth, how much are we missing if we don’t awaken to all he has placed in the soil and sky? God made this world of light and darkness, summer and winter, life and death. What does he intend to teach us in these ever-repeating cycles and seasons? Seamlessly weaving biblical truths into everyday life, Catherine McNiel will help you discover an unbelievable reality: God meets and transforms you in the mess and abundance of every mundane moment.

Universalism runs like a slender thread through the history of Christian theology. Over the centuries Christian universalism, in one form or another, has been reinvented time and time again. In this book an international team of scholars explore thediverse universalisms of Christian thinkers from the Origen to Moltmann. In the introduction Gregory MacDonald argues that theologies of universal salvation occupy a space between heresy and dogma. Therefore disagreements about whether all will be saved should not be thought of as debates between the orthodox and heretics but rather as in-house debates between Christians. The studies in this collection aim, in the first instance, to hear, understand, and explain the eschatological claims of a range of Christians from the third to the twenty-first centuries. They also offer some constructive, critical engagement with those claims.

Taking a unique approach to self-help, this guide demonstrates how conveying love and compassion to others—whether communicated through a simple smile or by holding a dying soul—can act as antidotes to the often painful human condition. Revealing the small steps that can be taken to improve the attitudes of others and therefore create happiness for the self, this handbook presents a collection of encouraging stories illustrating the strength of the human spirit. Emphasizing that all people have within them the ability to make a difference, this emboldened exploration argues for this power to be acted upon, thereby ensuring a dependable sense of well-being amidst the turmoil of today.

Unlike other brief summaries of Julian's life in 14th-century Norwich, England, this book goes in-depth to uncover the political, cultural, social and religious milieu that formed and deeply influenced her development as a woman and a Christian mystic.

Burt Hecker is a 63-year-old medieval re-enactor (he dresses in medieval clothes, eats medieval food, thinks medieval thoughts). This is the story of his doomed attempt to come to terms with his own history.

A fresh and contemporary translation of one of the best loved and influential mystical texts of all time, The Showings of Julian of Norwich brings the message and spirituality of this 14th century mystic to 21st century readers. Julian of Norwich, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, was an English anchoress in East Anglia. At the age of 30, suffering from a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions of Jesus, which she recorded and then expanded on later in her life. Her message for today's readers is simply this: She reveals the feminine face of the Divine and reminds us to see God there. All our failings are an opportunity to learn and grow; that they should be honored, but not dwelled upon. God's love has nothing to do with love and retribution and everything to do with love and compassion. In spite of all appearances, all is well.

Even people who know very little about the 14th-century anchoress Julian of Norwich have heard that famous quote. But what relevance can such certain confidence in God's goodness and love have for us who are faced daily with a divided, hurting world? In this very insightful and prayerful book, Jennifer Christ draws parallels between Julian's times and ours and demonstrates how Julian's message of hope and joy in God's never-ending love for us can give us strength and hope. Scholars have called Julian a theological optimist. If you need to hear of God's deep, abiding love for you, and that all shall be well in God's greater plan for your life, spend time with this book-reading Julian's words, praying with them, pondering, and journaling, and letting her hope-filled message take root in your heart. Book jacket.

'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.' This quotation may be all that many people know of Julian of Norwich, an anchoress from the fourteenth century. This book seeks to bring to a popular readership a devotional engagement with Julian's work. The introduction gives a general background to Julian, the nature of visions in the 14th century and the type of text Julian gives us, namely a meditative text which intends to lead the reader to 'beholding'. Each chapter centres on one aspect or image from Julian's Revelation, which seeks to make the events of the Passion present to the reader's imagination. The commentary incorporates reflection, the biblical narrative and Julian's subsequent teachings to create a meditation that enables the reader to linger on the wonder of the cross, ending with a prayer that leads to silence and a thought or verse to carry into daily life.