Revelations of Divine Love

An account of sixteen visions, or showings, received in May 1373 by a woman later known as Julian, who lived as an anchoress at Norwich. She wrote it in Middle English in two versions: a Short Text, and a much longer Long Text of 86 chapters, the fruit of some twenty years of reflection. During an illness from which she was expected to die, she saw Christ's suffering on the cross. She also saw all that is made as something small, like a hazelnut in her palm, which lasts only because God loves it. The book's central questions are why God allowed sin, and how a God who is all love relates to a world full of suffering. Julian is told that sin is fitting, or 'behovely', and that 'all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well'. Later chapters develop the parable of a lord and a servant, find no wrath in God, and describe Jesus as our mother.

It is the earliest surviving book in English known to be by a woman, and a searching, hopeful treatment of the problem of evil and of God's love.