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Document Details :

Title: The Contemplation of Christ Crucified in Julian of Norwich
Author(s): FUSCO, Roberto
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 13    Date: 2003   
Pages: 119-139
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.13.0.504592

Abstract :
The text of Julian’s Revelation shows that here we are looking at three successive moments of a single spiritual process, that lead the one who contemplates Christ’s passion to plunge more deeply into a vivid understanding of this mystery. In the first way, Julian considers the physical pain of Jesus. The contemplation of suffering as such is not an end in itself, and even the graphic details of the passion that Julian describes simply serve as a prelude to a further teaching or insight, for which the lived mystical experiences at a particular moment is but the point of departure. Julian thus moves on to consider the second way of contemplating the Passion, namely reflection upon the love urging the Son of God to go through it. The third way of meditating on the passion is the one in which mystical experience and theological precision harmoniously blend. In fact, the idea that joy would spring from the redemption brought about by Christ finds remarkable theological and biblical confirmation.

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