christianity

There’s a paradox in the life of faith, attested to across religious traditions, culture, time, place and religious orientations: The more we come to know God, the more we come to know ourselves; and at the same time, the more we know ourselves, the more we know God. This is to say that these two … Continue reading Knowing God and Knowing Self

We’ve been doing a lot of heavy theological lifting so far this Lent, as we’ve been spending the season with Julian of Norwich. While her writings are spiritually rich, encouraging, and suffused in love, she also so often challenges us to shift our perspective and to think through difficult aspects of theology. And so today … Continue reading Enclosed in Trinitarian Love

There’s a particular irony within much of contemporary Christianity in that, despite our rightful assertions that God has no gender, and despite the fact that the Scriptures contain many references to God mothering, Christians tend to be very uncomfortable with feminine imagery for God. But Julian of Norwich is one wonderful counter-example to this rule. … Continue reading A Mother’s Love

The story of humanity’s fall into sin and subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden has long captured the imagination of Christian thinkers, poets, and artists. We can see the importance of this story from the earliest strands of the tradition; in the passage directly following this past Sunday’s Epistle reading, Paul writes: “Therefore just … Continue reading The Parable of the Servant: An Alternative Myth of the Fall

We’re just over the half-way point in this series on Julian of Norwich, and I hope that if nothing else is clear by now, the one thing that is clear, is that Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love is very well-named. Love permeates her whole experience of God, her theology, and spirituality. Today I’d like to … Continue reading Created for Love