Laughing at the Devil: Seeing the World with Julian of Norwich - Softcover

Hall, Amy Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1478000252 ISBN 13: 9781478000259

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2018

Synopsis

Laughing at the Devil is an invitation to see the world with a medieval visionary now known as Julian of Norwich, believed to be the first woman to have written a book in English. (We do not know her given name, because she became known by the name of a church that became her home.) Julian “saw our Lord scorn [the Devil's] wickedness” and noted that “he wants us to do the same.” In this impassioned, analytic, and irreverent book, Amy Laura Hall emphasizes Julian's call to scorn the Devil. Julian of Norwich envisioned courage during a time of fear. Laughing at the Devil describes how a courageous woman transformed a setting of dread into hope, solidarity, and resistance.

About this title

Review

“Laughing at the Devil with these two exceedingly clear-eyed women—Julian of Norwich and Amy Laura Hall—is compelling, enlightening, and joyous, all in one. The two have created texts, each for their own time, that together bear witness, at points defiant, at points mischievous, to a profoundly God-sustained world. What a wonderful, grace-filled vision.” (Teresa Berger, author of @ Worship: Liturgical Practices in Digital Worlds)

“You might not expect to find references to Game of Thrones, West Texas, barfing bears, divorce, and Machiavelli in a book on Julian of Norwich, but you will find all these and much more in this volume. Julian of Norwich is a most unusual theologian, and Amy Laura Hall has given us a most unusual book: it is engaging and illuminating, a personal, passionate, and political reflection on and with Julian.” (Karen Kilby, coeditor of The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology)

“Amy Laura Hall's masterful Laughing at the Devil is a rewarding joy to read, at once a profound dialogue with the great mystic Julian of Norwich, and a beautiful, raw, funny, audacious, and insightful invitation to the contemporary audience. We laugh with Hall and Julian, and we too yearn to pull closer to God not through fear and trembling, but through an aching heart bursting open with joy. This is the kind of raw, gritty, grounded, and real spiritual exploration that calls to all Christians, and to all people of faith. Strongly recommended!” (Omid Safi, author of Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition)

Review

"Although Hall addresses serious topics, her treatment is boundless and joyful. Those familiar with Julian's writings should find this unique take to be contemporary and relevant."-- (06/01/2018)

"In Laughing at the Devil, Amy Laura Hall urges her own readers to read Julian [of Norwich] and to keep thinking along with her. This brief study is worthy of careful reading. . . . Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, general readers."-- (01/01/2019)

"A book to read with the heart as well as the mind."--Willard E. Roth"Sharing the Practice" (12/01/2018)

"Amy Laura Hall's Laughing at the Devil is valuable because she resists a bloodless and spiritualized vision of Julian's theology. Covenant theologians seeking to understand the significance of Waldenström's insistence that the cross was a demonstration of divine love will find in Hall's Julian an important conversation partner."-- (08/01/2018)

"A labor of love: a testament to the richness of Julian's writing and the balm of a new theological perspective for those deeply hurt by life. . . . For readers grappling with tragedy, pain, and bewilderment at the world's evils, Laughing at the Devil makes meaningful Julian's revelation that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."-- (04/09/2019)

Edition details

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1478000252
• ISBN 13: 9781478000259
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144