"Christian Mystics": Richard Foster and Julian of Norwich

Don't be surprised if your local Christian bookstore carries books by Richard Foster. He is a lauded author in most seminaries and among many pastors. His books are featured in church parlors such as Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC. But, who is this "Christian mystic"? At the book table at Redeemer Presbyterian Church I also saw a biography on Julian of Norwich. I was told that Julian was revered as a "great theologian" at Redeemer Presbyterian NYC. A few quotes from Julian show that her mysticism was akin to the spirit of witchcraft and goddess worship, yet Julian of Norwich is known often as a "Christian mystic" in contemplative circles of "Christianity" today. Richard Foster referred to Julian of Norwich in his devotional materials.

Contemporary Christian Divination: "Richard Foster laments the lack of 'living masters' and claims that people are turning to Eastern meditation because the church has 'abrogated the field.' If Foster was right when he wrote that in 1978, he should be very encouraged now because today the church is awash in mystical practices. Some of the most popular Christian authors promote mystical practices from the middle ages....

"Kelsey shares his understanding of Jung’s thinking: 'The task of dream interpretation, according to Jung, is that of learning a strange language with many nuances, of learning to understand the symbolic communications of the unconscious – the language of art, literature, mythology, and folklore.... Jung believed that the unconscious is connected to a larger spiritual reality, a 'collective unconscious.'" See The Goddess in Every Person?

The Dangers of "Spiritual Formation"
Dallas Willard is excited to tell us that finally, through the lead of people like Richard Foster, we are having a revival of the use of spiritual ...www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/biblical-teaching/DeWaay/spiritual-formation.htm - 43k -

From chapter 7 in A Twist of Faith (Kjos):

Tolerating sin destroys shame. Some years ago, I watched the pastor's wife in a Presbyterian (USA) church teach a Sunday school class called Women at the Well. She first "centered" the class with a chant by mediaeval mystic Hildegaard of Bingen whose pantheistic images sounded more Buddhist than Christian. Then she read a quote by Thomas Merton, the Catholic mystic who embraced Tibetan Buddhism. Finally she gave us a two-page handout from a book called Soul Friend: An Invitation to Spiritual Direction.[15] It told me that today's mysticism, which blends acceptance of sin with a permissive feminine God, isn't all that new: "In the fourteenth century in Europe there was a great flowering of mysticism, and out of this period came some of the greatest spiritual guides of all time whose writings are highly relevant today. . .

"Julian of Norwich . . . claims that 'God showed me that sin need be no shame to man but can even be worthwhile.' She seems to mean by this that sins are disguised virtues, for 'in heaven what sin typifies is turned into a thing of honour.' "[16]

". . . In Julian's theology, we find the fullest expression of the concept of the femininity of God. 'God is as really our Mother as he is Father,' she says. 'Our precious Mother Jesus brings us to supernatural birth, nourishes and cherishes us by dying for us.' "[17]

Here are the refs in the footnotes:

15. Cited by class "hand-out" from Richard J. Foster, Renovaré: Devotional Readings (Vol. 1, no. 43, 1991), no page number shown.

16. Kenneth Leech, Soul Friend: An Invitation to Spiritual Direction (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992), 146. Leech cites Julian's Revelations of Divine Love, 35, 37-39. (from Berit Kjos: These pages don't match the translations I have examined. The closest translation I could find was Julian of Norwich: Showings, New York: Paulist Press, 1978, translated by Edmund Colledge, page 154: "God also showed me that sin is no shame, but honour to man. . . . It is to them no shame that they have sinned -- shame is not more in the bliss of heaven -- for there the tokens of sin are turned into honours." These words are taken out of context; they do not reflect Julian's overall view of sin. However they do show how certain passages are being used to validate the feminist concept of sin).

17. Ibid., 147. Leech cites pages 59-61 in Divine Revelations, but again, these page numbers do not match the translations I found. Instead, I would like to cite a few similar quotes from Julian of Norwich: Showings (detailed above):

"As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother, and he revealed that in everything, and especially in these sweet words where he says, 'I am he . . . the power and goodness of fatherhood; I am he, the wisdom and the lovingkindness of motherhood. . . I am he, the Trinity; I am he, the unity; I am he, the great supreme goodness of every kind of thing. . . . As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother. Our Father wills, our Mother works, our good Lord the Holy Spirit confirms." (pages 295-6)

"Julian also wrote, "The second person of the Trinity is our Mother in nature. . . in whom we are founded and rooted, and he is our Mother of mercy in taking our sensuality. . . . So our Mother works in mercy on all his beloved children who are docile and obedient to him." (page 294) "So our Lady is our mother, in whom we are all enclosed and born of her in Christ, for she who is mother of our saviour is mother of all who are saved in our saviour; and our saviour is our true Mother, in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come." (p. 292)

Richard Foster prepared devotional material that focuses on Julian of Norwich. For more research see Julian of Norwich: Showings (Classics of Western Spirituality) Edmund College, James Walsh, Jean Leclercq (sic) http://www.amazon.com/Julian-Norwich-Showings-Classics-Spirituality/dp/0809120917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198204666&sr=1-1

"Our Mother in nature, our Mother in grace, because he wanted altogether to become our Mother in all things, made the foundation of his work most humbly and most mildly in the maiden's womb.” 297

“But our true Mother Jesus, he alone bears us for joy and for endless life, blessed may he be. So he carries us within him in love a and travail, until the full time when he wanted to suffer the sharpest thorns and cruel pains that ever were or will be…. And he revealed this in these great surpassing words of love: If I could suffer more, I would suffer more...

“The mother can give her child to suck of her milk, but our precious Mother Jesus can feed us with himself..... [p. 298]

[previous page: 297: "Our Mother in nature, our Mother in grace, because he wanted altogether to become our Mother in all things, made the foundation of his work most humably and most mildly in the mainden's womb. .... ]