Finally, a man has done the work of revealing what Hildegard would really have said if she hadn't been so cowed by oppression—and spoilers, it's a bunch of heresy. "Hildegard did not know all that she was saying ... her writing and visioning were truer than her conscious awareness could articulate."

Not the scholarly work I was looking for.

I wasn't aware that this sort, or much of any, Christian mysticism existed. Also, not often do we hear of such a highly intelligent and talented woman of the middle ages. With that said, I am giving this book only two stars because I believe it to be poorly written. It appears it was published by the people of this same religious persuasion for other people of the sort. Readers unfamiliar with the terms and concepts might find them poorly explained. However, I'm sure it wasn't easy to translate this from 12th century German. I would rather read a secular book on this topic, but as far as I know there is not one in existence.

While Hildegard is a great luminary, Fox is not. I found this book exhausting, having to keep checking the primary sources due to Fox's proclivity to omit information that doesn't fit the narrative he is trying to spin. I would be more forgiving if I could believe they were mere mistakes or accidental omissions, but when he takes incomplete sentences out of a paragraph to insinuate something that that same paragraph would later go on to contradict I am left with little other option but to believe him a dishonest scholar.

If you want to read Hildegard, read Hildegard, not Fox.

Although this book sometimes strays a bit too far into over-intellectualized territory, it is pretty balanced overall, and seeing Hildegard's art along with some of what she herself had to say about it is great. Some of the other insights by the author that connects Hildegard's mysticism with the wider spiritual world are also interesting, but occasionally I think the author stretches a little far to make a point.

Matthew Fox and Hildegard von Bingen. Always inspiring.

Love this book.

If you like hildegard, check out this awesome website:
http://www.hildegardchristianmystic.com

Peace & love,

Incredible life, incredible works. Someone that should be taught in our Medieval history courses

This is not a "thick" book, but the prose was a bit "thick" for me in a lot of places. It took me a while to finish it. Others may have a different experience. One of my favorite bits of the book was seeing Plates 5 and 6, which were essentially a depiction of "Vitruvian Man" by a woman, this Hildegard of Bingen, living three centuries before Leonardo da Vinci and his cronies. I appreciated Fox's realization that the crucifixion on its own was simply not yet for Hildegard the central and isolated preoccupation it became for many Christians in later medieval times... she was focused on life and resurrection. I felt her vision of hell, as elucidated by Fox, bore similarities to that of C.S. Lewis, with the emphasis on the refusal of the individual to "see" the grace of God. And I was particularly pleased with the final chapter, which likens the communion of saints and the operation of the universe to a musical symphony.

U of A

Great book by Matthew Fox.

Beautiful plates, and fantastic analysis.

If you like this, please visit http://www.hildegardchristianmystic.com

Thank you.

1151/2

“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. She also wrote a text describing these visions entitled Scivias”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Also O Nobilissima Viriditas song

We need more books on Hildegard, and not the hippy-dippy kind.