In the year 1373 a young Englishwoman whose name we do not know--she is called Julian" because she lived part of her life as an enclosed solitary in the church of St. Julian in Norwich--experienced a series of intense visions that she later recorded in two versions. The formal title of the "long text" of that book is A Revelation of Love. It is commonly called Showings, the word Julian herself used to describe her visions. This...