Julian of Norwich: And the Mystical Body Politic of Christ by
Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
Book: ***
Performance: ***
Not for the Faint of Heart
It’s an academic piece, so performance wise it was adequate. This book itself was a look into the writings of Julian of Norwich, who is created with writing one of the earliest surviving english language works by a woman. While living as an anchoress in a cell at St Julian Church in Norwich, she became seriously ill and experienced several (16) visions; after which wrote them done into what would become known as the short text [The Showings]. Much later, she reexamined those visions and attempted to explain them better in what would become known as the long text [of Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love]. The net result is that her writings show a fairly mystical , while at the same time very corporal, understanding God’s love and redemptive desire for man, primarily from an aspect of the feminine/motherhood … all of which makes her somewhat dated works difficult to fully comprehend by a modern, casual reader such as me. It was my hope this book would make her more accessible. It did not.
I say this because this is first and foremost a philosophical/theological examination … to which the use of language that is rarely seen outside those genres that make what is presented quite dense, nuanced and difficult to understand. Placing Julians concepts within other medieval mystics and thinkers further exacerbate the struggle. In the end, I don’t really know how to even summarize the primary point beyond a general feel that bodily suffering somehow reveals the Love of God. I did get some insight into how woman of that time were treated … but then I really didn’t need to that to know how complete weird and hard and oppressive the life of woman then.
Introduction (0:04)
Chapter 1: Imagining the Political (1:31)
Chapter 2: I Desired a Bodily Sight (1:17)
Chapter 3: A Fair and Delectable Place - Part 1 (1:19)
Chapter 4: A Fair and Delectable Place - Part 2(1:20)
Chapter 5: A Continuant Laborer - Part 1 (1:25)
Chapter 6: A Continuant Laborer - Part 2 (1:17)
Conclusion: Performing the Book (0:31)
Appendix: Who Was Julian of Norwich (0:26)
I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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