Tradition & Life After Death (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

Meaning and significance of cosmic reconciliation

• Christians believe that all things were created perfect and that creation was perfectly balanced

  • The creation accounts in Genesis record that God was happy with his creation, saying: “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31)

• Sin broke the harmony of creation and threw it out of balance

• Saint Paul taught that Jesus’s death and resurrection restored not only the relationship between God and humans but also harmony to the world

  • Jesus destroyed the power of sin and death, which had broken the harmony of creation

• At the end of time, the whole of creation will be perfectly restored and made perfect

  • At this time, everything in the universe or cosmos will be perfectly reconciled with God

  • This is known as cosmic reconciliation 

Julian of Norwich

• Julian of Norwich (c. 1342–1416) was a woman who studied and wrote during medieval times

• She received a series of revelations from Jesus

• In these revelations, she asked Jesus why there is sin and suffering in the world

• The vision of Jesus told her that:

  • Sin was necessary because people had free will (they were able to make their own choices about how to act)

  • All will be well at the end of time when everything in creation will be brought back together in harmony and reconciled with God

• Julian wrote down the reply she got in Revelations of Divine Love

• The vision Julian had reflected Saint Paul’s teachings about cosmic reconciliation at the end of time