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Summary
- Juliana is not in the Bible, but Julia is — greeted by name in Romans 16:15, among a list whose other names are the kind borne by slaves and freed people in Rome.
- Julian of Norwich’s real name is unknown. She is called after the church her anchorite’s cell adjoined, with one window into the church and one onto the street.
- She received visions during a grave illness in May 1373 and spent two decades thinking before writing Revelations of Divine Love — the earliest surviving book in English known to be by a woman.
- “All shall be well” is not cheap consolation. She asked why sin was permitted, did not receive an explanation, and wrote plainly that she wanted more and did not get it.
- She writes about Christ as our mother at a length unusual for her century, derived from a reading of the incarnation rather than from sentiment.
Bibliography (Click to show)
Sources: Behind the Name entries for Juliana and Julia; Scripture quotations from the NIV via BibleGateway (Romans 8:28; 16:15; Isaiah 66:13). Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, in both the short and long texts, for the May 1373 illness, the question about sin, the threefold “all shall be well” and the maternal language for Christ. Her given name is not recorded; “Julian” is taken from the church of St Julian in Norwich.
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