The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living with Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

by June Tillman (Author), June Boyce-Tillman (Author)

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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

Product Description
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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing (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: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,856,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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4 of 4 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

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.