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Literature and Theology Advance Access originally published online on July 24, 2008
Literature and Theology 2009 23(1):1-17; doi:10.1093/litthe/frn035
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press 2008; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Shifting Perspectives: Sin and Salvation in Julian's A Revelation of Love

Abram Van Engen *

Department of English, Northwestern University, 1897 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2240, USA

a-vanengen{at}northwestern.edu


  Abstract

In A Revelation of Love, Julian of Norwich has a problem: Holy Church blames humans for sin, but God does not. Julian's solution lies in her Parable of the Lord and the Servant, which, I argue, does not reconcile this contradiction, but instead embraces it. The resulting doctrine of salvation envisions a back-and-forth shift of perspectives—from blame to blamelessness—that finally terminates in heavenly union with God. The essay ends by situating Julian's soteriology in its medieval context, arguing that what was once a corrective message of love in a culture centered on God's wrath has often become today a message of self-esteem in a culture centered on God's love.


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