“Julian of Norwich and Mary Baker Eddy”

Michell, Deidre. “Julian of Norwich and Mary Baker Eddy.” Colloquium: The Australian and New Zealand Theological Review (ANZATS) 33, no. 2 November (2000): 201–20.

Michell examines in detail the “remarkable similarities” where the unorthodox theologies of Julian of Norwich and Mary Baker Eddy converge (201): “the wholly loving and never angry nature of God, the insubstantial nature of sin, rejection of a ‘father’ image of God and an emphasis on our ‘Godly’ rather than sinful nature” (203). Michell observes that these points of agreement were also points of divergence from orthodoxy. For example, knowledge of oneself as godlike was particularly audacious because women were seen as the cause for sin’s entry into creation. And where Julian and Eddy converge is where they each found their transformative opportunities. Michell documents how both women struggled with serious illness and near-death experiences which became the basis for profound revelation and healing. Michell surmises that, like Eddy, Julian’s transformation and theology transformed and healed others as well (201). Eddy’s understanding of God as mother, and Julian’s vision of Jesus as mother reflecting the kindness and gentleness (the mother-ness) of God, along with their passionate spiritual convictions, allowed these two women to overcome the cultural restrictions, trivialization and marginalization of women visionaries in their day.

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ISSN: 0588-3237