By Emma Yeager
July 17, 2024
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Julian of Norwich Helped Me Through Quarantine
The year was 2020. Quarantine was in full effect. And a 14th-century anchoress was helping me through this time of isolation. Julian of Norwich was a theologian, visionary, and woman who chose to withdraw from the world to live in a solitary dwelling to pursue a life of prayer and devotion to God. Her hallmark work is Revelations of Divine Love in which she recounts 16 visions of Christ’s Passion where she was shown the incomprehensible love of God for the world.
I recall being struck by the vivid spirituality of Julian and the way she viewed her own suffering body as an avenue to a greater understanding of the love of Christ, the suffering man on a cross. At a time in my life when I was questioning the significance of my female body as I was isolated from the world, Julian’s story and writings were a source of solidarity. I was stunned by the way her hundreds-of-years-old religious experience helped me through the pandemic and wondered what other surprises the Middle Ages might hold. A lot, I would find.
The Medieval Paradox
Only in hindsight do I realize how much my academic and vocational trajectory shifted when I first encountered Julian of Norwich. She was the first female theologian I had ever encountered or read. As such, she showed me what I could be. She also began to flip what I thought I knew about the “Dark Ages” on its head. I was struck by the vibrancy of this time in Christian history. Julian of Norwich sparked my curiosity and inspired me to pursue undergraduate education to study theology and the history of Christianity.
I took every opportunity to research and write on medieval Christianity, and a common theme regarding medieval Christian women arose. Hildegard of Bingen went on preaching tours, Julian of Norwich wrote theology from divinely given visions, and Catherine of Siena was installed as a Doctor of the Church for her theological contributions and influence. I began to wonder how medieval women wrote so much theology, embarked on preaching tours, and influenced the decisions of popes and bishops when I had never seen women do such a thing in my 21st century context.
I began to wonder how medieval women wrote so much theology, embarked on preaching tours, and influenced the decisions of popes and bishops when I had never seen women do such a thing in my 21st century context.
Medieval women had such influence because they operated from a paradoxical spirituality that was deeply embodied yet disembodied. They were situated in a largely patriarchal society that denounced the female experience. Medieval women had to transcend their female embodiment and justify their theological and pastoral voices by appealing to divine prompting. Most women began their treatises by stating that God told them to write what was shown to them in a visionary experience. Simultaneously, they reversed the limitations of their female flesh and operated from a deeply embodied spirituality. Medieval women saw Jesus as an outcast, a suffering body, and a servant. He was not dressed in brocaded robes like the time’s male priests but in humility, pain, and servitude—something women knew all too well. Their female embodiment was an avenue of greater union with the suffering Christ.
their lived social and religious experiences allowed these women to lead and write theology in ways their male counterparts simply could not
I’m not arguing for a return to the patriarchal context that prompted medieval women to act in this disembodied/embodied way, but their lived social and religious experiences allowed these women to lead and write theology in ways their male counterparts simply could not. I began to ponder the contemporary significance of this phenomenon.
Embracing Our Particularities
I started to wonder if the narrative that “theology is just theology” had some blind spots that did not recognize the significance of geographical, social, gendered, cultural, and ethnic diversity in theological reflection. Writing and leading from one’s unique context produces not a different gospel but a message that edifies the entire body of Christ. What might it look like to write and lead from the conviction that our particularities are significant to the body of Christ and could edify the church for centuries?
I found that Hildegard of Bingen’s vocation as a botanist, physician, and theologian allowed her to contribute an informed ecological theology that used botanical, corporeal, liturgical, and cosmic motifs to construct a robust theology of creation and the cosmos no one else could write. Recall Julian’s story. Because of her lived experience as a suffering woman on her deathbed who received visions of divine love, she was able to write a unique reflection on the Passion of Christ and love of God. Additionally, contemporary scholars such as Willie James Jennings and Keri Day have exemplified the power of leading from particularity in their reflections on life as African American and Black scholars in theological education. Their writings along with the host of medieval women such as Hildegard, Julian, and Catherine offer a vision for Christian leadership and influence that is tethered to embodiment.
Writing and leading from one’s unique context produces not a different gospel but a message that edifies the entire body of Christ.
In step with these medieval women, I embrace my voice as a young Christian woman from central Appalachia to write and lead from that embodiment. I’m still learning exactly how to put this into practice. I started a Substack that leaned into my interest in history and theology with the mission of highlighting diverse historical voices and helping the church better understand the past, especially the often-misunderstood Middle Ages. Additionally, I leaned into my Appalachian heritage by completing a research internship where I compared Appalachian and medieval women’s ecstatic spirituality. I found a similar trend of leadership from embodiment in a context where it was common for women to override their femaleness by appealing to divine prompting when contributing in ecclesial spaces. Nevertheless, Appalachian women found avenues of religious expression and influence similar to that of medieval women. This marriage of my heritage and academic interests was an unexpected gem in the trajectory of my faith and scholarship.
It is a strength to lead from the lived experiences, traumas, joys, land, and relationships that have shaped you as a person. Likewise, listen and learn from those on different mountains. Allow them to illuminate beauty and truth obscured by the position of your own mountain.
It is a strength to lead from the lived experiences, traumas, joys, land, and relationships that have shaped you as a person.
The task of the Christian is to discern how best to steward one’s God-given, embodied voice for the edification of the church and the good of one’s neighbor. May we never make our neighbors “overcome” their particularities to contribute to the body of Christ. We lead by cultivating an ecclesial scene of belonging where particularities are embraced as avenues to greater understanding of the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the center of it all.
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Emma Yeager
Emma is from West Virginia but has called Chicago home for the past few years. Graduating with a B.A. in Theology from Moody Bible Institute, Emma will be attending the University of Chicago Divinity School in the fall to pursue further studies in the history of Christianity. She is passionate about helping the Church better understand the history of the faith as this has proven vital to her own faith formation and spiritual life. In her free time, Emma enjoys long walks by Lake Michigan, reading about ancient Egypt, and spontaneously exploring her city.