What Can We Learn from Julian of Norwich

Anne Lamott’s “Overture: Lily Pads”, presents a chain of stumbled steps throughout her life by showing that each stagger has made her stronger and demonstrated that every misfortune and tribulation of her existence has allowed her to become one step closer to God. My objective is to obtain an enhanced understanding of the nature and function of Anne Lamott’s journey into her selected religion, which ends with her choosing Christianity by accepting Jesus’ everlasting love into her life. I will explain her journey as well as how I think she understands the concept of being “born again”. I wish to present how her definition, perspective and understanding resembles or possibly even differs from that of my own, enabling me to examine and

The story of Creation found in Genesis 1-3 has captured the attention of countless Christian theologians throughout the ages. Despite the fact that the text of these chapters are quite short, it has proved itself to be a fertile ground from which many of the central tenets of Christian doctrine have sprouted. This fruitful text has also spurred a variety of differing interpretations of the Creation and Fall. Augustine of Hippo and Lady Julian of Norwich are two theologians who interpreted Genesis 1-3 in vastly different ways. The aim of this paper is to make a thematically organized comparison of Julian of Norwich’s interpretation (which is mostly apparent within her short parable on the Lord and the Servant, Revelations of Divine Love) with Augustine’s influential interpretation of Genesis 1-3.

At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing

In Helena Maria Viramontes Under The Feet Of Jesus, the protagonist, Estrella, transforms from being confused and filled with rage towards her lack of understanding of objects with simple but significant means to a more mature, and improved grasp of the importance of this knowledge. Additionally, Estrella exemplifies curiosity and perseverance in her surroundings. Her development is revealed through the use of literary devices such as tone, selection of detail, and figurative language.

In “Under the Feet of Jesus,” Helena Maria Viramontes incorporates the use of selection of detail, figurative language and tone to develop Estrella’s character. Viramontes uses these literary devices in order to break down Estrella’s character from an angry person into a more calm and collected individual. Viramontes uses the selection of detail and tone to develop Estrella’s character. Viramontes describes Estrella as angry. “She became very angry… foreign as the alphabet she could not decipher…

Saint Augustine, one of the best scholars of the early church, portrayed the Trinity as practically identical to the three sections of an individual: personality, soul, and will. They are three unmistakable viewpoints, yet they are conjoined and together constitute one bound together individual. The purpose of this research paper is to further emphasize, highlight, and defend St. Augustine’s conclusion that the Holy Trinity is one God existing in three persons according to the meeting at the Council of Nicea 325.

In conversation with Daniel Migliore give an account of what it means to confess that God is triune. Give care to an explication of “economic and immanent trinity,” and perichoresis.

To understand Julian and her theological account of her visions it is important to recognize the state of the church during this era as well as its probable influence this had on her life and works. In the 13th century the church was very much in the midst of a tension between the church defined as ecclesiastical hierarchy and the church defined as a community of believers. That is to say that there was a growing gap between the church’s forms and formulas and the beliefs of its members. In broad terms, Christianity tended to become more and more clerical whereas lay society tended to become more religious which generated an increase in the number of spiritual initiatives. Also during this time there was great anxiety amongst lay people over issues of sin, death, and a desire for security of the soul. This was perhaps the most common and burdensome anxiety of the Middle Ages. The doctrine of purgatory, however effective it may have been in providing consolation and hope it also caused great

An in-depth study reveals mankind’s literal presentation of Mary to God for appraisal and judgment, rather than a simple depiction of her journey upward. The painting illustrates man’s—not God’s—physical act of lifting Mary up, creating a truly dynamic canvas. To do all of this, El Greco uses strong geometric divisions and hidden lines to take control of the viewer’s eyes, and sly manipulations of gravity and forces to create an image truly in motion. In the end, El Greco uses the painting’s overwhelming size and orientation to alter perspective and succeeds in tying the viewer’s fate into the scene itself.

The great thing about art, is that there are multiple portrayals of one idea but, the artist’s own personal style allows one to feel something that another may not. Early Renaissance painters, Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna established their own unique style to depict a biblical scene known as, The Betrayal of Christ. Through a close analysis of each artist’s representation of, The Betrayal of Christ, one is able to compare and contrast the artists own understanding of the scene through their attention to detail, character, and space throughout the painting. When examining these two works, one will have a stronger emotional response towards Giotto’s interpretation rather Duccio’s, due to his methods of handling organization, figures, and space.

Saint Jerome on the right and Job on the left, are vivid images of the epitome of true devotion and worship to Jesus. As they both have a contemplating stare in their eyes, evoking the acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ. Following their eyes out, it’s clear Carpaccio directed them towards the viewer to evoke the invitational feeling of devotion and respect towards the deceased image of christ. Even

The Annunciation is a Christian celebration of the iconic moment that the archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother to the Son of God, Jesus. The story of the Annunciation derives chiefly from the biblical Gospel of Luke, and has been portrayed abundantly and variously in many visual art forms from the earliest centuries of Christianity and Christian iconography. This essay will explore the depiction of the Annunciation and symbolism in the period of the Italian Renaissance and pay particular attention towards the development of the focus on spiritualism towards naturalism through the refined language of expression and gesture from the 14th century to the late 15th century.

Everything Julian’s mother “sacrifices” for her son isn’t out of love for him; she puts him before herself only to make him fit the “Godhigh” criteria, and in turn uses him to separate and elevate

Religion in the Middle Ages takes on a character all of its own as it is lived out differently in the lives of medieval men and women spanning from ordinary laity to vehement devotees. Though it is difficult to identify what the average faith consists of in the Middle Ages, the life told of a radical devotee in The Book of Margery Kempe provides insight to the highly intense version of medieval paths of approaching Christ. Another medieval religious text, The Cloud of Unknowing, provides a record of approaching the same Christ. I will explore the consistencies and inconsistencies of both ways to approach Christ and religious fulfillment during the Middle Ages combined with the motivations to do so on the basis of both texts.

Still debated today, implications of the doctrine of the Trinity first arises in Genesis 1:1 of the Bible and later becomes the topic of discussion during the Patristic era of the early church. One of these Patristic fathers, Augustine of Hippo, addresses this doctrine in his book The Confessions and his later writings. As one of the Patristic fathers who laid the foundations of much of Christian theology, his insight is well respected and is one of the most studied of the early fathers. In The Confessions, he brushes the surface of the doctrine of the Trinity, yet also introduces poignant issues that are explored later.