Julian of Norwich—Incorporated

The fourteenth-century anchoress Julian of Norwich currently enjoys an immense popularity, both among scholars and among those interested in personal spiritual growth. This essay argues that part of the reason for Julian's popularity is that she is read under the category "mystic," a category constructed to disembed religious thinkers from their traditions so as to give them a universal availability, yet which finally disembodies and depoliticizes them. The essay then offers a reading of Julian's Revelation of Love which shows that Julian's theology is a thoroughly embodied one, highly conscious of and concerned for the body of Christian believers for whom she writes.