Contemplative book study: Revelations of Divine Love
Discover the profound wisdom of Julian of Norwich's "Revelations of Divine Love" in our intimate biweekly study group, fall 2024. Join us as we explore this groundbreaking work—the first known book in English written by a woman—and delve into its surprising and radically optimistic vision of sin, suffering, salvation and, most of all, God’s love. We'll read, discuss, and meditate on Julian's insights, allowing her 14th-century mystical experiences to illuminate our modern spiritual journeys. This group will meet in person Sunday morning at 9:00 am, every other week, from September 22 to December 15, at Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Or follow along online. Resources will be posted here.
Schedule
| Date | Reading | Topic | Journee * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep. 22 | Introduction | 5. The hazelnut | Hazelnut discussion |
| Oct. 6 | Chs. 1-14 | 11. God does all that is done | |
| Oct. 20 | Chs. 15-28 | 24. See how I loved you | |
| Nov. 3 | Chs. 29-42 | 27. All shall be well | |
| Nov. 17 | Chs. 43-56 | 41. God is the ground of our prayer | |
| Dec. 1 | Chs. 56-70 | 51. The lord and the servant | |
| Dec. 15 | Chs. 71-86 | 53. The Godly will |
Resources
- Sign up for the mailing list (emails about once a week)
- Page numbers refer to the Barry Windeatt edition
- A lightly modernized Middle English version of Revelations of Divine Love is available online
- Introduction to this study
- The Paulist Press edition of this book has bigger print and is therefore easier on some eyes
* Journee instructions
Are you online, but still you'd like to discuss a reading or interact with it more deeply? How about trying a chat with "Journee," an interactive journal powered by Claude or ChatGPT or another LLM? Sound crazy? Think of it as writing into a journal that prompts you with questions to think and write about. (Although I've called the interactive journal "Journee", I have mixed feelings about giving an AI a quasi-human name).
This is a total experiment! If you want to try, download the instructions that are linked in the table above and paste them into Claude or ChatGPT or another LLM. Then, please let me know if they were useful! Since this is a total experiment, I would love to know if anyone finds it useful.
