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Julian of Norwich: Problems of Evil and the Seriousness of Sin

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Abstract

Julian of Norwich emphasizes God’s eternal and unchanging love for humankind. Her visions show how God is not angry with our sins and so has no need to forgive us. God does not shame or blame us but excuses us and plans how to reward and compensate us for sin. In relation to Mother Jesus, we remain dear lovely children who need help, correction, and education. Although these remarks suggest to some that Julian must be “soft” on sin, that she has no adequate appreciation of the worthiness of God or the dignity of human nature, I argue that this is far from the case. On the contrary, she makes Divine worthiness axiomatic and urges readers to live into it. She relocates human dignity not in its intrinsic value but in our centrality to God’s plan. She measures the seriousness of sin in terms of the “real hard work” it takes to rear us up out of it: crucifixion for Christ, the hell of being a sinner and the crucifixion of life-long penance for us. Nevertheless, the brightness of her visions dominates with her assurance that despite the sin-produced sufferings of this present life, all will be well.

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Notes

  1. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love [hereafter RDL], trans. by Clifton Wolters (Harmondworth, Middlesex, UK: Penguin Books, 1966), 5.67–68; 51.144–145; 53.155–156; 82.207–208; 86.211–212.

  2. Julian of Norwich, RDL 28.104; 38.118–119; 40.121; 51.142–143.

  3. Julian of Norwich, RDL 54.158.

  4. Julian of Norwich, RDL 61.172–173.

  5. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131; 52.153–154; 53.155.

  6. Julian of Norwich, RDL 60.170–171; 61.172–173.

  7. Julian of Norwich, RDL 58.166; 59.167–168.

  8. Julian of Norwich, RDL 63.176.

  9. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.141, 144.

  10. Julian of Norwich, RDL 22.96; 23.99.

  11. Julian of Norwich, RDL 38.118–119; 51.142–143.

  12. Julian of Norwich, RDL 22.97–98; 24.100.

  13. Julian of Norwich, RDL 57.162–64.178.

  14. If Katherin A. Rogers (in “The Abolition of Sin: A Response to Adams in the Augustinian Tradition, Faith and Philosophy 19 (2002), 69–84) is especially incensed, Stephen T. Davis would register his disapproval in more measured tones (e.g., in “Free Will and Evil,” Encountering Evil: Live Options in Theodicy, ed. by Stephen T. Davis [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981], 69–99. See also my “Neglected Values, Shrunken Agents, Happy Endings: A Reply to Rogers,” Faith and Philosophy 19 (2002), 487–505.

  15. Julian of Norwich, RDL 5.68.

  16. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.80.

  17. Julian of Norwich, RDL 65.179.

  18. Julian of Norwich, RDL 14.85; 21.96.

  19. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.80-81.

  20. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.82; 85.210-211.

  21. Julian of Norwich, RDL 85.210-211.

  22. Julian of Norwich, RDL 53.156.

  23. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131; 53.156; 56.166.

  24. Julian of Norwich, RDL 55.160; 56.166.

  25. Julian of Norwich, RDL 56.161.

  26. Julian of Norwich, RDL 27.103.

  27. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.80.

  28. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.81.

  29. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.81.

  30. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.81-82; 35.114.

  31. Julian of Norwich, RDL 27.103-104.

  32. Julian of Norwich, RDL 32–33.XXX

  33. Julian of Norwich, RDL 27.103.

  34. Julian of Norwich, RDL 11.81-82.

  35. Julian of Norwich, RDL 27.104; cf. 11.81-82; 35.114.

  36. Julian of Norwich, RDL 27.103-104; 32.109-110; 58.167; 85.210-211.

  37. Julian of Norwich, RDL 30.106-107; 32.110-111; 36.115-117.

  38. Julian of Norwich, RDL 29.106.

  39. Julian of Norwich, RDL 30.107; 31.107-108; 32.109-110; 34.112-113; 35.113-114.

  40. The “atheological” argument gets its “classic” formulation in J.L. Mackie’s “evil and Omnipotence,” Mind 64 (1955), 200–212. Important discussions followed in its wake, including Nelson Pike, “Hume on Evil,” The Philosophical Review 72(1963), 180–97, and Alvin Plantinga, “God, Evil, and the Metaphysics of Freedom,” in The Nature of Necessity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974), 164–193.

  41. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131-132.

  42. Julian of Norwich, RDL 38.118-119; 45.131; 46.132-133; 48.136-137; 49.137-138.

  43. Julian of Norwich, RDL 33.112; 34.112-113; 46.134.

  44. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131.

  45. Julian of Norwich, RDL 33.112-34.113.

  46. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131-132; 46.134; 50.139-140.

  47. Julian of Norwich, RDL 13.83-84.

  48. Julian of Norwich, RDL 13.83.

  49. Julian of Norwich, RDL 13.84; 33.111.

  50. Julian of Norwich, RDL 12.83; 22.97-98; 23.99; 42.127.

  51. Julian of Norwich, RDL 38.118; 77.199.

  52. Julian of Norwich, RDL 40.122; 63.175; 76.197.

  53. Julian of Norwich, RDL 9.75-76; 57.162.

  54. Julian of Norwich, RDL 37.117-118.

  55. Julian of Norwich, RDL 55.159.

  56. Julian of Norwich, RDL 67.183.

  57. Julian of Norwich, RDL 55.159; 56.166.

  58. Julian of Norwich, RDL 55.160.

  59. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131; 51.144; 53.156; 55.160.

  60. Julian of Norwich, RDL 37.118.

  61. Julian of Norwich, RDL 56.161.

  62. Julian of Norwich, RDL 55.160; 58.166.

  63. Julian of Norwich, RDL 57.163; CF. 37.118.

  64. Julian of Norwich, RDL 56.161.

  65. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.141.

  66. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.146-147.

  67. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.144-146.

  68. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.147-149.

  69. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.149.

  70. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.147-148.

  71. Julian of Norwich, RDL 37.118.

  72. Julian of Norwich, RDL 54.157.

  73. Julian of Norwich, RDL 12.83; 22.97-98; 23.99.

  74. Julian of Norwich, RDL 13.83-84.

  75. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.148.

  76. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.144.

  77. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.146.

  78. Julian of Norwich, RDL 10.78.

  79. Julian of Norwich, RDL 57.164; 58.165.

  80. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.146-147.

  81. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.146.

  82. Julian of Norwich, RDL 39.117; 79.202-204.

  83. Julian of Norwich, RDL 52.153.

  84. Julian of Norwich, RDL 73.192.

  85. Julian of Norwich, RDL 5.68; 31.109.

  86. Julian of Norwich, RDL 43.129-130.

  87. Julian of Norwich, RDL 57.164.

  88. Julian of Norwich, RDL 41.123-125; 43.128-130.

  89. Julian of Norwich, RDL 10.77-78. See Julian’s own descriptions in RDL 4.66; 8.76; 12.82; 16.87-17.90.

  90. Julian of Norwich, RDL 46.132; 78.201-202; 82.207.

  91. Julian of Norwich, RDL 39.120; 40.121-122.

  92. Julian of Norwich, RDL 58.167; 59.167; 61.172.

  93. Julian of Norwich, RDL 56.161-162.

  94. Julian of Norwich, RDL 81.206.

  95. Julian of Norwich, RDL 5.68.

  96. Julian of Norwich, RDL 5.67-68.

  97. Julian of Norwich, RDL 45.131; 53.156; 55.160; 56.166.

  98. Julian of Norwich, RDL 37.118; 51.149; 54.157.

  99. Julian of Norwich, RDL 22.96-97; 23.98; 31.108; 51.151.

  100. Julian of Norwich, RDL 20.94.

  101. Julian of Norwich, RDL 20.94.

  102. Julian of Norwich, RDL 22.97-98.

  103. Julian of Norwich, RDL 3.64-65; 5.68.

  104. Julian of Norwich, RDL 2.63.

  105. Julian of Norwich, RDL 2.63; 3.66; 17.90.

  106. Julian of Norwich, RDL 2.64.

  107. Julian of Norwich, RDL 41.124.

  108. Julian of Norwich, RDL 3.64-65.

  109. Julian of Norwich, RDL 3.65-66; 17.90.

  110. Julian of Norwich, RDL 17.90; 19.93.

  111. Julian of Norwich, RDL 17.90.

  112. Julian of Norwich, RDL 17.90.

  113. Julian of Norwich, RDL 19.91-93.

  114. Julian of Norwich, RDL 63.175; 72.190.

  115. Julian of Norwich, RDL 47.134-135; 50.141-142; 52.152-153.

  116. Julian of Norwich, RDL 5.69; 54.158; 55.159.

  117. Julian of Norwich, RDL 38.118-119; 39.120; 51.144-145.

  118. Julian of Norwich, RDL 51.145-146.

  119. Julian of Norwich, RDL 39.120; 51.145-146.

  120. Julian of Norwich, RDL 57.164.

  121. Julian of Norwich, RDL 28.104.

  122. Julian of Norwich, RDL 21.96.

  123. Julian of Norwich, RDL 14.86.

  124. Julian of Norwich, RDL 38.118-119.

  125. I emphasize this category of evil in my books Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999) and Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). The perspective of Julian’s vision can be adapted to make important contributions to the problem of horrors, but that was not her focus.

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  1. Philosophy Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Marilyn McCord Adams

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Adams, M.M. Julian of Norwich: Problems of Evil and the Seriousness of Sin. Philosophia 39, 433–447 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11406-011-9309-6

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