Gracious Predestination in Augustine and Julian of Norwich Carmel Bendon Davis & Joseph Lam Cong Quy
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Louvain Studies 34 (2009-2010) 312-335 doi: 10.2143/LS.34.4.2122221 © 2010 by Louvain Studies, all rights reserved “The Parable of the Lord and Servant” The Salvific Memory: Gracious Predestination in Augustine and Julian of Norwich Carmel Bendon Davis & Joseph Lam Cong Quy Abstract. — In the Christian tradition medieval female mystics were often treated with suspicion. This does not seem to have been the case with Julian of Norwich who, in contrast to some of her female contemporaries, endeavoured to interpret her visions in the light of ecclesial faith, a process in which Augustinian theology can be demonstrated to have played an important role. This article focuses on the relationship between medi- eval Augustinian theology and the visions of Julian of Norwich. Moreover, it describes the impact of Augustinian theology on Julian of Norwich’s work “Revelations of Divine Love,” in particular on the theological connection between memory and predestination. For Augustine and Julian the memory of God is the precondition for understanding predestination. Nevertheless, Julian of Norwich was a mystical theologian in her own right. While for Augustine predestination included the idea of justification which pre- sumes a lapsarian sinfulness in humanity, Julian of Norwich wrestled with the contra- diction between the goodness of God’s creation and the very idea of sinfulness itself. For Julian, God’s memory is essentially filled with love and her explication of this view allows her to present a more accessible and simpler version of some complex theological questions. In this way, it is argued that Julian can be seen to have used Augustine’s ideas but not to have been confined, nor defined, by them. Introduction This article is synthesised from a larger project on the influence of Augustinian Theology on the mysticism of the High Middle Ages as represented, particularly, by the English mystic, Julian of Norwich. The scope of Augustinian influence can be widely demonstrated in Julian’s Revelations but the immediate focus here is on similarities in Augustine’s and Julian’s expressions in relation to memory and predestination. The article establishes that Julian’s approach owes much to Augustine, whether by conscious intention or unconscious inclusion. In either 994609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd4609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd 331212 11/07/11/07/11 110:230:23 PREDESTINATION IN AUGUSTINE AND JULIAN OF NORWICH 313 instance, the discernible similarities point to a high level of Augustinian influence in Julian’s writing, the extent of which has not been considered to date.1 The implications of this influence are far-reaching insofar as Julian, as a female and mystic, complements (male) Augustinian theol- ogy and brings a new voice to the tradition, a voice that the potential to revise aspects of the tradition and to point towards an inclusiveness that the Church of the current day is seeking. I. The Life of Augustine and Julian of Norwich One thousand years of history separate St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and Julian of Norwich (1342- after 1416). Augustine lived and worked mostly in the Romanized North Africa of the fourth and the fifth century. He was a highly respected theologian, a recognized pastor and mystic of the early Church2 whose thoughts and spirituality have inspired theologians through the centuries, into the time of Julian of Norwich and beyond, to the present day.3 While the life, theology and spirituality of Augustine have been the subjects of countless studies,4 scholarly interest in Julian of Norwich has gained prominence relatively recently and investigation into Julian’s life is in comparative infancy. What we know of Julian of Norwich comes to us primarily from her writings.5 There, she tells that on 8th May, 1373, when she was 1. To the authors’ knowledge, there are only three publications to date which spe- cifically explore Augustine’s influence on Julian of Norwich. See Kerrie Hide, “The Deep Wisdom of the Trinity Our Mother: Echoes in Augustine and Julian of Norwich,” The Aus- tralasian Catholic Record 4 (1997) 432-444; John P. H. Clark, “Nature, Grace and the Trinity in Julian of Norwich,” The Downside Review 100 (1982) 203-220. See also Denise Nowakowski Baker, Julian of Norwich Showings: From Vision to Book (Princeton, NJ: Uni- versity Press, 1994) which includes a short chapter on Augustine and Julian of Norwich. 2. See Agostino Trapè, S. Agostino: L’uomo, il pastore, il mistico, Maestri di spiri- tualità: Mondo primitivo (Fossano: Città Nuova, 1976); John Peter Kenney, The Mysti- cism of Saint Augustine: Rereading the Confessions (New York: Routledge, 2005). 3. See Alister E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification. The Beginnings to the Reformation (Cambridge: University Press, 1989) 17: “The theology of the medieval period may be regarded as thoroughly Augustinian, a series of footnotes to Augustine, in that theological speculation was essentially regarded as an attempt to defend, expand and where necessary modify, the Augustinian legacy.” 4. Hubertus R. Drobner, “Studying Augustine: An Overview of Recent Research,” Augustine and His Critics, ed. Robert Dodaro and George Lawless (London: Routledge, 2000) 19. 5. Accounts of Julian’s revelations are extant in two forms, now referred to as the “Short Text” and the “Long Text.” The unique copy of the Short Text, likely to have been made after 1435 from a 1413 exemplar, is preserved in BL MS Additional 37790. Selections from the Long Text, dated around1500, are found in Westminster Treasury 994609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd4609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd 331313 11/07/11/07/11 110:230:23 314 CARMEL BENDON DAVIS & JOSEPH LAM CONG QUY 30-and-a-half-years old, she received what she herself refers to as sixteen revelations of God’s love. The definite date, and her age at that date, allow the calculation of her birth year as late or 1342 or early 1343. We know that she was still alive in 1416 when local records show that she received small bequests in two local wills. At some stage in her life she became an anchoress enclosed in the Augustinian church of St Julian’s in Conisford, Norwich. Based on this fact it is unlikely that ‘Julian’ was her birth name and it is generally supposed that she assumed the name of Julian in honour of the church that housed her.6 Julian’s revelations, variously also called “showings” and “visions,” are extant in two versions. The immediate details and impact of the revelations were recorded by Julian in her (so-named) “Short Text” (ST) quite soon after the actual experience but, by her own admission, the greatly expanded “Long Text” (LT) with its complex theological explications, is the final product of up to twenty years contemplation on the initial showings. Based on this scant evidence it would seem unlikely that Augustine and Julian could have much in common. It would seem even less likely that Julian’s humble living situation would have allowed her much acquaintance with the great theological and philosophical works of St Augustine; and, yet, evidence can be adduced to the contrary, both by an examination of the likelihood of Julian’s contact with Augustinian advisors in Norwich and by close attention to substantial theological similarities to Augustinian thought in Julian’s texts. It is the authors’ contention that the clear reiteration of Augustinian theology in Julian’s work cannot be attributed to mere accident or coin- cidence. The pervasiveness of Augustinian thought in Julian’s writings attests to a thorough knowledge instilled either by personal study and reflection on Augustine’s works, or by intensive instruction by spiritual advisors with an Augustinian training; or, perhaps even more likely, a combination of both. This latter possibility is reliably surmised on the basis of several studies which show that in the fourteen century the Augustinians played an essential role in religious life of this culturally and commercially “substantial” city.7 Specifically, just across the lane MS 4 but all complete versions of the Long Text are over a century later. Principal among the Long Text representatives are the Bibliothèque National Fonds anglais MS 40 and the BL MS Sloane 2499. The first modernized version of the Long Text was pub- lished in 1670 by the Benedictine Serenus Cressy. 6. For a new perspective on Julian’s name see Eddie A. Jones, “A Mystic By Any Other Name: Julian(?) of Norwich,” Mystics Quarterly 33 (2007) no. 3, 1- 16. 7. See, in particular, Elizabeth Rutledge, “Norwich before the Black Death,” Medi- eval Norwich, ed. Carol Rawcliffe and Richard Wilson (London: Continuum, 2004) 157. 994609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd4609_LouvStud_09-4_02_Davis.indd 331414 11/07/11/07/11 110:230:23 PREDESTINATION IN AUGUSTINE AND JULIAN OF NORWICH 315 from Julian’s anchorhold, was the Austin friars’ “handsome house … [with] a fine library.”8 As an international Augustinian house of special studies (studium particulare)9 the library of Norwich presumably owned the entire collection of Augustine’s work10 and, as a religious woman and neighbour, it is very possible that Julian would have had access to the theological collection.11 In addition, during the 14th century, the Conisford friary saw a succession of highly influential priors.12 The exceptional preacher and excellent theologian, Benedict Icenus, was a prior there and from 1330 also acted as auxiliary bishop of Norwich.13 His successor in the priorship, Richard Cheffler, is recognized as an author of ‘elegant’ sermons, and as the spiritual advisor of Lord Morley. In 1390 the great Augustinian theologian Roger Twyford,14 became prior and this puts him in an 8. Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, “Introduction” to Julian of Norwich: A Book of Showings. Part One and Part Two (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1978) 39.