Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias (Classics of Western Spirituality) [Paperback]

Hildegard of Bingen (Author), Mother Columba Hart (Translator), Jane Bishop (Translator), Barbara Newman (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Classics of Western Spirituality | Publication Date: March 1990

Hildegard of Bingen, twelfth-century German nun, mystic, prophet and political moralist, was widely consulted as an oracle and wrote prolifically on doctrinal matters, as well as on secular matters like medicine, She publicly preached monastic reform, founded two nunneries, and was embroiled in the politics surrounding popes and anti-popes.

Scivias, her major religious work, consists of twenty-six visions, which are first set down literally as she saw them, and are then explained exegetically. A few of the topic covered in the visions are the charity of Christ, the nature of the universe, the kingdom of God, the fall of man, sanctification, and the end of the world. Special emphasis is given to the sacraments of marriage and the Eucharist, in response to the Cathar heresy. As a group the visions form a theological summa of Christian doctrine. At the end of the Scivias are hymns of praise and a short play, probably an early draft of Ordo virtutum, the first known morality play. Hildegard is remarkable for being able to unite " vision with doctrine, religion with science, charismatic jubilation with prophetic indignation, and longing for social order with quest for social justice." This volume elucidates the life of medieval women, and is a striking example of a special form of Christian spirituality.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Latin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press (March 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809131307
• ISBN-13: 978-0809131303
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Theosophy

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An approachable translation, September 13, 2002

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T. Choong (Singapore, ------- Singapore) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)

Hildegard von Bingen, one of the prominent German mystics in the Middle Ages, stands as an anomaly amidst the whole host of Christian mystics. One reason to account for this is the fact that instead of advocating reform of the church in a confrontational manner, she often deflects it by recourse to God's voice. The voice that speaks in Scivias is more often than not the 1st person voice of God, and the persona of Hildegard the receptor of the visions occupies technically the position of a third person glossator and observer. On top of that, the chief focus of her 'reform' is of 'ordo virtutuum', a reform that works from within as opposed to the outright opposition(or confrontational gestures) offered by English Lollards in their translation of the Latin Vulgate into the vernacular Middle English tongue, or the Beguines' usurpation of the Catholic church's monopoly to Biblical interpretation.

Another reason to account for her special status as a medieval mystic is the absence of any so-called phenomenon of stigmata, trance-like swoonings, fleshly ecstasies like those of Margery Kempe or Teresa D'Avila. Hildegard received these purported visions without the influence of drugs and she transcribed them in a state of clarity unlike any other female mystics of her time.

What I appreciated about this edition was that they placed the pictorial depiction of her visions side by side with her writings and expositions of their meanings. The pity however is that these pictures(illustrated plates in the original medieval manuscripts) are not coloured, and one suffers from disappointment since he is not able to re-construct exactly the details(right down to the colour and shade Hildegard mentions) as in the original. Barbara Newman's introduction was extremely helpful, owing to her academic expertise in the field of medieval mysticism. Personally speaking, I bought this for the sake of an academic paper, but anyone else who is interested in the background of medieval mysticism and esoteric wisdom will find Newman's introduction enlightening and useful to set the whole work in the right context.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding female prophet, November 15, 2006

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Greg (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)

Hildegard was one of the most famoust mystics of the medieval period. A rarity amoung women of that time, she conversed with learned theologians and even the pope, was given considerable autonomy to learn and teach, and was a very gifted writer, poet, theologian, mystic, and scientist.

Hildegard's visions, which are included in this collection, form a larger set of works of hers which include poems, songs and music, and various encyclopedias. Hildegard was a very learned woman for her time.

Her visions are very complex and involve many elements and themes. Some deal with classic theological motifs from the medieval period, such as the Church, Christ, heaven and hell, the last judgement and the fall. Others deal with the relationship between man (the microcosm) and the universe, while others deal with the mysteries of the Triune God and God's prescence in nature.

Most striking in Hildegard's visions is the intimate connection between man, God, and the creation. Mathew Fox rightly said Hildegard is a creation mystic; for her, the divine spirit fills and energises the universe, and the Earth itself is seen in terms as our mother and as sacred. Hurting creation is in fact a way we hurt ourselves, an ecological ethic which can certainly say a lot to us in this time, where our greedy carelessness towards the world and its resources threatens to imperil our very survival as a species. Hildegard also quite rightly and perceptively understands the goodness of creation in terms of the goodness of God, whose abundance is given to us freely out of love. Our sin in Hildegard's system very much boils down to our selfish tendency to only see ourselves and our wants, rather than our relationship with the creation and the creator. In this way, Hildegard speaks to us today as the prophet, who warns us of the spiritual and material destruction and doom that will come to us if we continue to live in our wicked ways; demythologized and interpreted in our context, this can be read as a prophecy to our own destruction if we do not turn from our sinful selfishness which manifests itself in the reckless way we hurt and exploit other people and the environment merely to sate our own desire.

Hildegard's work is filled with beauty and colour and is greatly enjoyable also as fine art, and indeed, Hildegard is as much a great artist as she is a prophet and mystic.

This collection of her works is quite good and takes us through the main cycles of prophetic visions.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias, August 28, 2006

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K. Arth - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)

Rather astonishig how it pulls old testament and new together making excellent sense of items that formerly seemed to make little sense. It told me things I was not even aware of dealing with my own Catholic faith.