Coming from a society where women were barred from serious writing and teaching, Julian, an anchoress in the great medieval city of Norwich, nevertheless used the English vernacular of the day to describe an extraordinary series of "showings" that she received from God. Through her experiences, she identifies the female nature of Christ's suffering, the motherhood of God, and, using images from domestic daily life, emphasizes the homeliness of God's love. This new translation from the Middle English, which includes both the long and the short versions of her Revelations, preserves all the directness of expression and the rich complexity of her thoughts, offering a work that stands alongside The Cloud of Unknowing and Langland's Piers Plowman.
