Hildegard of Bingen

[p0lar_bear]

This is not so much apologetics as scholarly discussion, but....

Has anyone read much about or by Hildegard of Bingen (11th century visionary)?

[edit] btw, most the website information on her is...umm...less than trustworthy, so I'm looking for anyone who has read more than that.

[phatcatholic]

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07351a.htm"][b]this[/b][/url] is a reliable source. also [url="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainth05.htm"][b]this[/b][/url]

[-I---Love]

Yeah.

My german teacher introduced her to me as I have listened to some of her music.

Her music is wonderful for meditation!

I don't know much about her, but since you mention it, I am going to read some stuff about her then. If you read anything cool please post it!

+++

[ThyWillBeDone]

Wow talk about wierd timing, I am sitting here burning a new CD I just bought of Hildegard von Bingen's music into MP3s for my Ipod and I go to Phatmass and see this topic. Anyway I haven't read any of her stuff by have two CDs of here music. I am a big fan of Chant and Polyphony and her chants are some of the best I have ever heard
God Bless,

[Sammy Blaze]

at the baptist university I'm attending right now, my philosophy class covers three people in Christian philosophy: St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Hildegard of Bingen. Three of the greats..... Is her music only available online?


AMDG
~S.

[phatcatholic]

go [url="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=pd_kk_sr_1/002-8653013-3686459?index=music&field-keywords=hildegard%20von%20bingen"][b]here[/b][/url] to buy her music from amazon.

[p0lar_bear]

Do you know anything about her understanding of man (gender neutral) as a microcosm?

[phatcatholic]

i don't. do you?

[p0lar_bear]

a bit...enough to talk about it a bit, but not enough to be the only one talking...I have to do a bit more reading...

[phatcatholic]

what are you reading that discusses this matter?

[p0lar_bear]

Scivias, the Book of Divine Works, The Book of Life's Merits, Simple Medicine (all by Hildegard); Sister of Wisdom by Barbara Newman; Concept of Woman by Prudence Allen; and a number of heretical books (gotta love Matthew Fox...)

[phatcatholic]

hehe, woh! let us know what you find.....

[p0lar_bear]

Phatcatholic,

Do you really want me to bring up the subject I'm studying?

[phatcatholic]

sure, it sounds like it has some informational value. if it turns into a debate, i'll just close it or move it to the debate table.

[p0lar_bear]

OK....


First, I am not a heretic. Hildegard of Bingen was not a heretic. In fact, she is listed as a saint on the Roman calendar (never officially canonized). Her writings were read and approved by St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius II (I think..well, whoever was pope at the time). Her writings have been co-opted by heretics from different stands (some of which I will discuss), but so have St. Augustine's.


That said...


Because Hildegard was one of the first women theologians, one of the first women to write (or dictate) in her own name, she is incredibly important in our history. Just the breadth of her writing is amazing. She wrote three volumes of visions covering exegesis, the cosmos, the nature of man, the nature of the divine, the sacraments, the Church, the Fall, Purgatory, and the moral life. She wrote two books on medicine which included discussions on folk remedies, gynecology, the properties of herbs, plants, and gemstones, different personalities, anthropology, and the natural world. She wrote the first known morality play, the lives of two saints, and a collection of songs. She also made four preaching tours, wrote hundreds of letters, and rebuked Barbarossa for supporting an anti-pope. This would be noteworthy even today, but for a woman in the 12th century, such a corpus of work is almost beyond belief.

Because of her work on the natural world and her understanding of the cosmos, she has been appropriated by the likes of Matthew Fox and those that follow a "creation spirituality." Because she uses images of the feminine Divine and discusses the value of women, she has been appropriated by radical feminists and goddess worshippers. However, both of these groups miss the central themes of her writings, and their organic unity.

What I am interested in is Hildegard's use of the feminine Divine. In her visions, particularly in her last book of visions (usually translated to the Book of the Activity of God), she uses some very strongly (and purposely) feminine images obviously claiming divinity. While this isn't shocking, or even uncommon, for medievals, it is shocking to modern readers. We are so entrenched in using exclusively masculine images in relation to God, that any hint at femininity strikes us as questionable at best. My goal is to demonstrate that not only is the use of the feminine Divine not questionable, but it is something we should embrace. We need to take back the feminine Divine from "post-Christian" feminists and pagans who advocate goddess worship.

more later....