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Julian’s Cell: The Earthy Story of Julian of Norwich (Northstone $21.95)
Reputed to be the first woman to write in the English language, 'Julian of Norwich' was born in 1342, the same year as Geoffrey Chaucer. The daughter of a stern and bitter mother, she married at 16 to a man named Walter, then lost her husband and children to a plague called the 'Black Death in Norwich.' Historians agree she later wrote Revelations of Divine Love in a small room in a Norwich backstreet. Her given name remains unknown, but as told in Ralph Milton's historical novel, Julian's Cell: The Earthy Story of Julian of Norwich (Northstone $21.95), the bereaved widow and mother had visions of the passion of Christ and became an 'anchorite' in the medieval mode of Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena and Clare of Assisi. As an 'anchorite' she was symbolically 'buried alive' in a cell attached to St. Julian's church. There for the rest of her life she elaborated on the visions she had received at age 30. She made possible the first radical equation of God with femininity.
"As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother... And so Jesus is our true Mother in nature by our first creation... I understand three ways of contemplating motherhood in God.";
Monica Furlong, the author of Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics, has suggested that Julian of Norwich might not have been able to read or write, her knowledge of the Bible and other books came from hearing them read aloud or translated aloud, and that her 'writings' were dictated, perhaps to a priest. Furlong concludes, "Her intelligence, however, is so fine and clear, her interest in theological ideas so acute and profound, and her mind so disciplined as it sets out her experiences that if feels very unlikely that she would not have made the effort to learn [or teach herself] to read.";
With on-line Christianity and his new novel, Ralph Milton is raising awareness of "one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time."; Milton's fascination with Julian of Norwich started four years ago when he and his wife Beverly, a retired church minister, went to England as part of a group of pilgrims led by Reverend Lynne McNaughton and Dr. Gerald Hobbs of the Vancouver School of Theology. A self-described curmudgeonly Protestant liberal, Milton recalls in his novel's foreword how he meditated and prayed for an hour in a dreary little chapel off the church of St. Julian's in the heart of the Norwich red light district. On that day he vowed to learn as much as possible both from, and about, the 600-years-dead mystic who spoke in a medieval English dialect. His novel is an amalgam of many theories, a fanciful exploration of character in the form of fiction, not a work of theology. Whether or not Milton's talents as a novelist will match his success as the co-founding publisher of Wood Lake Books-a Kelowna company now co-operatively owned-Milton intends his leap of faith and imagination to be provocative. And earthy. This is cross marketing for the new Millennium.
Julia Roberts, where are you? We've already got Meryl's agent on the line. 1-896836-50-X
[BCBW SUMMER 2002]
"As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother... And so Jesus is our true Mother in nature by our first creation... I understand three ways of contemplating motherhood in God.";
Monica Furlong, the author of Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics, has suggested that Julian of Norwich might not have been able to read or write, her knowledge of the Bible and other books came from hearing them read aloud or translated aloud, and that her 'writings' were dictated, perhaps to a priest. Furlong concludes, "Her intelligence, however, is so fine and clear, her interest in theological ideas so acute and profound, and her mind so disciplined as it sets out her experiences that if feels very unlikely that she would not have made the effort to learn [or teach herself] to read.";
With on-line Christianity and his new novel, Ralph Milton is raising awareness of "one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time."; Milton's fascination with Julian of Norwich started four years ago when he and his wife Beverly, a retired church minister, went to England as part of a group of pilgrims led by Reverend Lynne McNaughton and Dr. Gerald Hobbs of the Vancouver School of Theology. A self-described curmudgeonly Protestant liberal, Milton recalls in his novel's foreword how he meditated and prayed for an hour in a dreary little chapel off the church of St. Julian's in the heart of the Norwich red light district. On that day he vowed to learn as much as possible both from, and about, the 600-years-dead mystic who spoke in a medieval English dialect. His novel is an amalgam of many theories, a fanciful exploration of character in the form of fiction, not a work of theology. Whether or not Milton's talents as a novelist will match his success as the co-founding publisher of Wood Lake Books-a Kelowna company now co-operatively owned-Milton intends his leap of faith and imagination to be provocative. And earthy. This is cross marketing for the new Millennium.
Julia Roberts, where are you? We've already got Meryl's agent on the line. 1-896836-50-X
[BCBW SUMMER 2002]
Submitted on June 12, 2003 in By David.
