A dangerous book: C.S. Lewis reading Julian of Norwich

Journal article

This paper discusses C.S. Lewis’s reading of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations, drawing upon his letters, annotations on and published writings. In a series of letters written in the spring of 1940, Lewis shares his experience of reading Julian’s work with several correspondents, including Dom Bede Griffiths and Owen Barfield. He also annotated a copy of the Revelations now held at the Marion Wade Center, engaging with both linguistic and theological aspects of the text. Although he was a professional medievalist, Lewis’s reading of Julian underpins two of the most significant of his works of lay theology: his attempt to offer a Christian solution to the conflict between the ethics of duty and the ethics of virtue in his first work of Christian apologetics, The Problem of Pain, also published in 1940, and his more personal wrestling with the problem of suffering in A Grief Observed, written after his wife’s death in 1960.

Authors: Horobin, S

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University
• Journal: Medieval Feminist Forum
• Acceptance date: 2025-09-29
• EISSN: 2151-6073
• ISSN: 1536-8742
• Language: English
• Keywords: lay theology; CS Lewis; Julian of Norwich; theodicy; grief