Reviews - The Revelation of Divine Love in Sixteen Showings Made to Dame Julian of Norwich

I was torn between three and four stars. I think it is probably a four star book but I would like to read a more up to date translation than the one I had. However there are some wonderful passages of rich, deep theology that flow out of and into the truth that God is love without ever being saccharine or sentimental. Where I don’t connect with Julian’s thoughts they still made me question and reflect on my own beliefs and where I do they were comforting and challenging. Well Worth reading.

southern_circe's review against another edition

2.0

Really interesting to read another lay woman's view of her relationship with religion.

shelbydm's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed listening to these before bed, I found them very calming. Even though I am not a Christian, I think we can all relate to wanting to believe in a higher power that is kind, just, and accepting.

I also find the anchorite lifestyle interesting to read about. It's fascinating to me that people would lock themselves away in tiny rooms all day every day in complete devotion to their religion.

tymelgren's review against another edition

3.0

I don't know about you but sometimes I wonder if the problem is that I haven't read enough medieval mystics. Is there some great secret hidden in some semi-obscure text that'll make everything make sense for me?? Probably not, but how will I know unless I read every single book ever written! Julian of Norwich was a 14th century anchorite, probably now most well known for her phrase "but all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well." This book, REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE, is her account of a series of visions she had and her own interpretation of them. It's considered to be the first book written in English by a woman. She invented the word enjoy. When I first started reading it I was very into it, but it quickly started to feel monotonous and it ended up taking me almost six month to finish. Mystical experiences are fascinating to me, but they are definitionally kind of hard to write about or explain to anyone else, so reading about them can be frustrating and tedious. The main things I remember now are one of the visions in which she is extremely moved by the sight of the giant bleeding head of Jesus, and another in which she realizes that "as verily as God is our Father, so verily is God our Mother."

vread's review against another edition

2.0

Tried to read but :'( Fascinating and wack ideas, but a bit too wack for me to enjoy reading about them.

ariannam's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

annarella's review against another edition

5.0

I'm fascinated by the middle age mystics and was more than happy when I got this ARC.
It's hard to review this type of books because there's plenty of food for thought and you cannot help being involved at the emotional level.
It made me think, it gave some ideas for my spiritual path and it was a great read.
Highly recommended if you're interest in mysticism.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

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