Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

by Matthew Fox (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox. -- Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices

She has reached far into the emotionally exciting aspects of nature in a unique mode of Christian communion. -- Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth

Review
"If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox. Here in the long-lost legacy of Hildegard of Bingen is a mystical genius who could help to illumine the human soul spiritually, ecologically, politically--in every dimension of life."
(Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices )

"She [Hildegard] castigated a pope for his timidity and an emperor for moral blindness.  She taught scholars and preached to clergy and laity as no woman before her had ever done. . . . She claimed that now woman rather than man--obviously Hildegard herself--was to do God's work. It is difficult not to see in her visionary experience and activism, as well as her claim for the mission of woman in a male-dominated age, a gesture of protest, the reaction of an intelligent and energetic woman who chafed under the restraints imposed on women by the culture in which she lived."
(Bernard W. Scholz, The American Benedictine Review )

"We find relatively few Christian guides in the past to enlighten or to inspire us to a more functional relationship between the human and the natural worlds. . . . Hildegard might be considered a model with her sense of the earth as region of delight. . . . She has reached far into the emotionally exciting aspects of nature in a unique mode of Christian communion. She sees the creation maker in the ancient manner of the fertility cults, a view she expresses in her statement that creation and creator are related as woman and man. Only thus is the earth fruitful. . . . Because of this 'erotic' bond the earth becomes luxuriant in its every aspect."
(Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company; 2nd edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879181975
• ISBN-13: 978-1879181977
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #415,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Glimpses of Hildegard under a heavy overlay of Fox., May 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

This book claims to be "Text by Hildegard of Bingen with commentary by Mathew Fox." In fact, it is nearly all Fox with only occasional brief quotes from Hildegard. Confusingly, Fox uses "illuminations" to mean what Hildegard and everyone else calls "visions" rather than the pictures in manuscripts which are properly called "illuminations." This book contains, however, twenty-five reproductions of these pictures. To judge from other reproductions of the same pictures, the quality of the reproduction seems mediocre. Here you can learn only what Matherw Fox, a Domican, thinks about these visions. To find out what Hildegard said about them visions -- which is far fresher and more stunning that what Fox has to say -- one will have to look elsewhere. As an introduction to Hildegard, I would suggest "Hildegard of Bingen, A Visionary Life" and "Secrets of God: Writings of Hildegard of Bingen," both by Sabina Flanagan.

63 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A gross mistreatment of a wonderful mystic, w/gd photos, August 3, 2000

By	Dr. Anne H. King (Saint Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

It is terrible shame that the best affordable set of reproductions of Hildegard's images is by Fox on Fox. His text is a series of misquotes which misrepresents his source throughout all his commentary, juxtaposing quotes to put words in Hildegard's mouth, often ones which would have enraged her. There is a costly but much better reproduction of the visions by A. Fuhrkotter published by Turnhout, Belgium in good library collections or for those who can afford it. I encourage anyone interested in Hildegard to go for the reputable scholars like Newman, Flanagan, Davies, and Hart just to name a few.

40 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A 0-star review would be more appropriate., August 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen (Paperback)

This book is not worth buying: what a shame they killed good trees to produce it! Matthew Fox is renowned in the world of academia and learned theology for his sheer flakiness. He is no Hildegard authority, but only a Fox authority (MUCH less interesting). Anyone wanting a sound introduction to Hildegard, provided by specialists trained in the field of medieval studies, religion and literature, would be best served consulting the works of highly trained and eminently readable authors like Barbara Newman, Peter Dronke and Sabina Flanagan.