Perspectival vulnerability and the work of trust: Waiting on the Lord in two examples of late medieval religious thought

This article examines the relationship of trust and vulnerability in medieval theology and literature, focusing on Julian of Norwich’s Revelations and William Langland’s Piers Plowman. Drawing on theological frameworks such as deus absconditus (the hidden God) alongside insights from attachment theory and developmental psychology, the paper introduces the concept of perspectival vulnerability: the fragility that arises from one’s inability to access the intentions or perspective of the other, especially in divine-human relationships. The analysis begins with early trust formation in the works of D.W. Winnicott, Jean Piaget, Anthony Giddens, and Edward Tronick, illuminating how presence, absence, and responsiveness share a capacity for trust. These psychological insights provide a foundation for understanding how medieval texts explore the emotional and epistemic demands of sustained trust, especially in the ‘vulnerability phase’, as theorised by Ballinger and colleagues. Julian’s visions emphasise the vertical dimension, in which trust in God persists despite divine hiddenness and limited reassurance. Langland’s allegory shifts to the horizontal, illustrating the risks and ethical negotiations of interpersonal trust within a fractured social world. By reframing vulnerability as a relational and epistemological condition, this article shows how late medieval texts dramatise the experience of trust not as a single leap but as a temporally extended posture, held open by literary and devotional practice. In doing so, these texts remain resonant for contemporary discussions of trust, faith, risk, and relational ethics.