| Julian of Norwich: Visionary or Mystic? Contributor(s): Magill, Kevin (Author) |
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ISBN: 0415360536 ISBN-13: 9780415360531 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $190.00 Product Type: Hardcover Published: November 2005 Annotation: "Julian of Norwich" was a fourteenth-century woman who at the age of thirty had a series of vivid visions centered on the crucified Christ, twenty years later while living as an anchoress in a church she is believed to have set out her visions in a text called the Showing of Love. The trend in modern scholarship is to place Julian in the category of mystic rather than visionary, a classification which defines her visions as deeply private, psychological events. This book instead sets Julian's thinking in the context of a visionary project which she used to instruct the Christian community. Drawing on recent developments in philosophy which debate the objectivity and rationality of vision and perception, Kevin J. Magill gives full attention to the depth and richness of the visual language and modes of perception in the Showing of Love, doing justice to the major themes in Julian's teaching. In particular the book focuses on the ways in which Julian presented her vision to the Christian society around her, demonstrating the educative potential of interaction between the "isolated" anchoress and the wider community. Challenging Julian's identification as a mystic and solitary female writer this book argues that Julian engaged in a variety of educative methods - oral, visual, conversational, mnemonic, alliterative - that extend the usefulness of her text. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Education - Biography & Autobiography - Religion | Christianity - General |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2005007108 |
| Series: Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture |
| Physical Information: 0.62" H x 6.38" W x 9.5" (0.93 lbs) 190 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century woman who at the age of thirty had a series of vivid visions centred around the crucified Christ. Twenty years later, while living as an anchoress in a church, she is believed to have set out these visions in a text called the Showing of Love. Going against the current trend to place Julian in the category of mystic - a classification which defines her visions as deeply private, psychological events - this book sets Julian's thinking in the context of a visionary project used to instruct the Christian community. Drawing on recent developments in philosophy that debate the objectivity and rationality of vision and perception, Kevin J. Magill gives full attention to the depth and richness of the visual language and modes of perception in the Showing of Love. In particular, the book focuses on the ways in which Julian presented her vision to the Christian society around her, demonstrating the educative potential of interaction between the 'isolated' anchoress and the wider community. Challenging Julian's identification as a mystic and solitary female writer, this book argues that Julian engaged in a variety of educative methods - oral, visual, conversational, mnemonic, alliterative - that extend the usefulness of her text. |