The Seven Great Pains of Sin

Part 4, You Cannot Rise

You might be wondering why I'm slowing going through the seven great pains of sin that Julian of Norwich describes in Revelations of Divine Love, enumerating the plights and predicaments of a servant who falls into a pit upon setting out on a mission from their lord. I'm interested in this vision of Julian's because it can be difficult to talk about sin in an increasingly post-Christian world, and especially among Christians who are deconstructing their faith. Talk about sin can be shame and guilt inducing.

Julian, though, is not guilt or shame inducing. Her vision of God's loving, non-judgmental posture toward us is the reason why she is everyone's favorite mystic. And yet, Julian shares with us a sermon about sin. But the sermon doesn't have a wrathful, judgmental God. Rather, sin is like falling into a pit and becoming injured, where the mind is stunned by the pain. In short, I think Julian of Norwich is a resource for talking seriously about sin, but a non-judgmental way.

This brings us to the fifth great pain of sin. Hurt and stunned in the pit, Julian says that the servant "cannot rise." The servant cannot get up or climb out of the pit. 

We've already described this incapacity when looking at the injury and hurt of the servant. Our powerlessness. Our stuckness. 

Here's why I think that matters.

A few years ago I did a breakout section for Rachel Held Evans and Nadia Bolz-Weber for one of their Why Christian? conferences. This was just after the publication of Reviving Old Scratch, and Rachel wanted me to talk about the devil and spiritual warfare. I entitled the class "Exorcism 101." 

That title was a bit of a provocation given the audience attending the conference. The Why Christian? audience was mostly comprised of deconstructing evangelicals, ex-evangelicals, progressive Christians, and Christian-adjacent agnostics. So a talk about the devil and demons was going to be potentially triggering, given how spiritual warfare is generally talked about in more conservative and traditional Christians spaces, especially among pentecostals and charismatics. 

One of the approaches I took with that audience concerned the "atonement wars" going on at the time, and still raging among those who are deconstructing their evangelical faith. Specifically, penal substitutionary atonement was being rejected by the Why Christian? crew as bad and shame-inducing. There was a lot of conversation then about Christus Victor views of the atonement, as an alternative to penal substitutionary atonement, as Christus Victor was deemed to be a "non-violent" vision of atonement. 

To catch you up, if you don't know about any of this, Christus Victor atonement, which goes back to the church fathers, is the view that humanity was enslaved by hostile cosmic forces--Sin, death, the devil, and the principalities and powers. In the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, these powers are defeated and humanity set free. Notice that there is no blood sacrifice to appease a wrathful deity in this view. God requires no death to forgive us. Atonement is "non-violent." 

As you can see, Christus Victor would hold a lot of appeal for deconstructing and progressive types struggling with penal substitutionary atonement. That was my audience at Why Christian? and why Christus Victor was buzzing among them. But in my talk I pointed out a lurking problem for this group. 

Specifically, for Christus Victor to "work" you have to have a pretty robust vision of being held captive by dark, enslaving powers. Powers like the devil. Powers like sin. And yet, these were the supernatural and metaphysical sorts of things many in the Why Christian? audience were struggling to believe in. Deep into their deconstruction of faith, they hardly believed in God anymore. So how were they going to believe in something like the devil? 

Which brings me back to Julian's vision. For a Christus Victor vision of atonement, you need to face Julian's fifth great pain of sin: You "cannot rise." Christus Victor atonement is premised upon the condition that you are stuck. Enslaved, even. You cannot rise. Consequently, you need an intervention from a power beyond yourself. You need rescue. 

That idea--salvation as rescue--goes to Julian's vision of sin as being in a pit of hurt, confusion, and pain. Consequently, if you want a vision like Christus Victor, salvation as rescue, you need to articulate a vision of the pit we're all in. You have to imagine something like what Julian of Norwich imagines.