The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living With Hildegard of Bingen [Paperback]

June Tillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001

Hildegard of Bingen-theologian, mystic, poet, and musician-left an enormous legacy of spiritual insights that have extraordinary relevance in today's world. Even her music hits the top of classical music charts. Why is her influence so enduring?

Hildegard's twelfth-century teachings, founded on the Benedictine Rule, bring with them a wholistic sense that still speaks to today's spiritual seekers. Her ideas on the interdependence of male and female, health and ecology, the arts and sciences, were centuries ahead of their time and assure us that God's "greening" or life-giving power courses through all of life, no matter how bleak the outlook might seem.

This introduction to her life and thought helps to bring Hildegard's rich outlook to bear on today's world. Practical spiritual exercises at the end of each chapter make this suitable for parish study or individual use.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Visionary, poet, theologian, composer, healer, and abbess, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was renowned in her own day. She fell into obscurity, only to be resurrected in the closing decades of the twentieth century. She produced major works of theology, wrote on science and natural history, and frankly discussed human sexuality but is best known today for the ravishingly beautiful chants and hymns she composed. Boyce-Tillman examines various aspects of Hildegard from a practical perspective. The early chapters set Hildegard in historical context. Others place her work in the context of her prayer life, her visions, her approach to healing, and her music and its centrality in her theology. She was the first woman whose books met with papal approval and the only medieval European female composer to leave behind so large a body of work. She was a combination of the radical and the conservative--a woman of her time capable of transcending time, as contemporary enthusiasm for her attests. Exploring links between spirituality, the arts, and healing, Boyce-Tillman interpretatively examines Hildegard and her relevancy to contemporary living, complete with suggested spiritual exercises at the end of each chapter. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

June Boyce-Tillman founded the international Hildegard network. She is a composer whose work has been performed in numerous cathedrals, as well as an author. She is Reader in Music at King Alfred's College, Winchester, England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Morehouse Pub Co (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819218820
• ISBN-13: 978-0819218827
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,966,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explores the life and thought of this remarkable woman, August 11, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living With Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

Hildegard of Bingen was a twelfth-century Benedictine Christian theologian, mystic, poet, healer, and musician who left an enormous body of writings representing a legacy of spiritual insights that continues to be read today. In The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living With Hildegard Of Bingen, June Boyce-Tillman presents a superbly written introduction to a woman who was the first female whose writings were approved for publication by the Pope; one of the first women to have her music written down for her contemporaries and posterity; and the first science writer to ever put pen to paper on the subject of childbirth and women's sexuality. The Creative Spirit explores the life and thought of this remarkable woman as well as providing practical spiritual exercises based on Hildegard's ideas and concepts for brining wholeness, wisdom and healing to a busy, fragmented, modern life. Highly recommended.

3.0 out of 5 stars Catch the Creative Spirit, December 10, 2011

By 

Michael Moritz (Millersville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living With Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

I found this book this year at the bargain section and was impressed by it. I never knew anything about the visionary, poet, theologian, composer, healer, and abbess, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179).

History suggests that she fell into obscurity, only to be resurrected in the closing decades of the twentieth century. She produced major works of theology, wrote on science and natural history, and frankly discussed human sexuality but is best known today for the ravishingly beautiful chants and hymns she composed.

The author June Boyce-Tillman examines various aspects of Hildegard from a practical perspective. The early chapters set Hildegard in historical context. Others place her work in the context of her prayer life, her visions, her approach to healing, and her music and its centrality in her theology.

It, at times, was a little hard for me to follow, but overall it was worth it. I recommend it!