Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 2833
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Sprung , Andrew.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Inverted Metaphor: Earthly Mothering as "Figura" of Divine Love in Julian of Norwich's "Book of Showings"
  • Source: Medieval Mothering.  Edited by John Carmi Parsons and Bonnie Wheeler.  Garland Publishing, 1996.  Pages 183 - 199.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Jesus Christ as Mother Julian of Norwich, Mystic Mystics Psychoanalytic Theory Women in Religion
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 14- 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: The child-before-the-mother stance was a late medieval strategy to establish a safe field for inquiry into the nature of human desire, will, and perception. For Julian, this field is literally the body of Mother Jesus; since God is "verily" our mother, an earthly mother's teaching, protection, and suffering are imperfect figura of God's absolute nurturance. [Reproduced by permission of Garland Publishing.]
  • Table:
  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources: Taking a different perspective, Andrew Sprung argues that Julian degendered the idea of motherhood and in the process broke the usual binary understanding of maternity. By rendering Jesus as Mother, the Trinity was reconfigured as father, mother, and spir
  • Author's Affiliation: D'Youville College
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1996.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 0815323417