Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth century mystic, writer and anchoress whose exquisite text Revelations of Divine Love was the first book by a woman to be published in English. The text describes sixteen visions which Julian received at the age of thirty in the liminal late night hours when she was in the crisis of a fever, together with her profound reflections on their meaning. She is a highly intelligent theologian but her text is above all poetic, with the power to transform its readers if we are willing. This talk will examine the value of reading her as disciples rather than critics to enable the transformation she offers, which is a restoration of our porosity to God, to each other and to the world. I will suggest that this above all what is needed to address the ecological crisis today. 

Dr Claire Gilbert is an author, visiting professor at King’s College, London and lay canon of Norwich Cathedral.  She was formerly research fellow at KCL’s Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, then Adviser to the Church of England on medical ethics and environmental issues. She was a lay canon of St Paul’s Cathedral where she co-founded St Paul’s Institute for ethics in finance and founding director of Westminster Abbey Institute for ethics in public life.  Her publications include The Ethics of Medical Research on Humans, Sharing God’s Planet, Miles to Go Before I Sleep, I, Julian, and Julian of Norwich and the Ecological Crisis: Restoring Porosity.

Venue & Admission

St George the Martyr Holborn, 44 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AH

£10 General Admission

FREE for Temenos Academy Members/Full-time students with ID card