The Unknown Deed of the Last Day and Julian of Norwich’s Eschatological Hermeneutic in the Showings

Abstract

ABSTRACT Julian of Norwich’s deference to the teachings of ‘holy church’ – despite the divergence of these teachings from her own revelations – is a well-known stumbling block for scholars. Some accept her stated obedience as sincere, while others dismiss it as insincere, a rhetorical ploy for disseminating her theological beliefs without alarming the religious authorities of her day. This article proposes a new way of understanding Julian’s deference. I argue that Julian presumed an unknown eschatological event – ‘a deed the whych the blessydfulle trynyte shalle do in the last day … vnknowen of alle creaturys’ – that would precipitate a reinterpretation of the teachings of holy church, just as the coming of Christ was understood by medieval Christians to have precipitated a reinterpretation of the Old Testament. This eschatological reinterpretation would reconcile seemingly intractable tensions between Julian’s revelations and the teachings of ‘holy church.’