Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

MYSTICISM / CREATION SPIRITUALITY "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, Fox found blindingly beautiful paintings, radiant writings overflowing with fresh insights of the deepest kind, prophetic wisdom, and engaged political spirituality. Here was 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 "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 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 An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Tradition. Hildegard was an extraordinary woman living in the Rhineland valley during most of the twelfth century. Besides being the abbess of a large and influential Benedictine abbey, she was a prominent preacher, healer, scientist, and artist. She also was a composer and theologian, writing nine books on theology, medicine, science, and physiology, as well as 70 poems and an opera. At the age of 42, she began to have visions; these were captured as 36 illuminations--24 of which are recorded in this book along with her commentaries on them. Author Matthew Fox has stated, "If Hildegard had been a man, she would be well known as one of the greatest artists and intellectuals the world has ever seen." It is a credit to the power of the women's movement and our times that this towering genius of Western thought is being rediscovered in her full grandeur and autonomy. MATTHEW FOX is a well-known lecturer and scholar and is president and founder of the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, California. He is the author of 24 books, including Original Blessing, Meditations with Meister Eckhart, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, and One River, Many Wells. He lives in Oakland, California.