The Disparate Faces of God in the Visions
of Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich
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published 11/04/2008
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SummaryIn “A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich” by Julian of Norwich and “The Book of Margery Kempe” by Margery Kempe, each author gives literary descriptions of her own holy visions. In each description of a vision or a revelation in the two works, each author vividly details the sequence of events she witnesses. Julian of Norwich’s revelation comes while she is delirious with fever (Julian of Norwich, 356), and likewise Kempe’s revelation comes while she is “out of her mind” (Kempe, 368). Each author’s revelation seems to be primarily concerned with death and the suffering of bodily pain—Julian of Norwich envisions a wounded Christ, and Kempe envisions devils that torment her. The fact that these visions emphasize death and suffering— suffering both physical and psychological—is a direct result of how the historical circumstances of the era affected each author personally. Similarly, both Kempe’s and Julian of Norwich’s social status seem to be reflected in each author’s respective visions. This is because the authors associate holiness—and subsequent salvation—with a given value that is most important to each of them. Kempe envisions God as a symbol of wealth because Kempe values wealth, while Julian of Norwich envisions God as a being of suffering because Julian of Norwich values suffering.
Table of Contents
- Kempe envisions God as a symbol of wealth because wealth is what she values highly in her life.
- As noted above, Julian of Norwich's vision of Jesus is unlike Kempe?s.
- Not only did Julian of Norwich endure the psychological pain of isolation, but she desired to endure physical pain as well.
- The visions each author has of God differ significantly in the nature of each image.
- Julian of Norwich and Kempe's horrific visions seem to occur only after each author has a brush with death.
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