Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
by Matthew Fox
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Book Summary Information
Author: Matthew FoxEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-01-30
ISBN: 1879181975
Number of pages: 216
Publisher: Bear & Company
Book Reviews of Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
Book Review: A Medieval Amazing Contribution to Apocalyptic Revelations
Summary: 5 Stars
"I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits.
I am the rain coming from the dew
that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life."
"All of creation is a symphony of the Holy Spirit which is joy and Jubilation. ...The prophetic spirit orders that God be praised with Cymbals of jubilation and with the rest of the musical instruments..." Hildegard of Bingen
Apocalyptic Visions:
Mythical prophecies for world-ending dreams come out of a collective anxiety about the future of our planet or frailty of the human race. These dreams may be triggered in times of global upheavals and unpredictability. A millennial click may generates such kind of dreaming for some people. Y2K was associated with expected software crashes, which could have caused banking systems chaos, or air flight accidents, which did not materialize anyway. But the damaging news about the earth droughts, water pollution, global warming, and other potential fears for flooding or cosmic collision will continue to be nightmares for others. Whenever instability or insecurity become themes of cultural awareness, apocalyptic dreams for some people become frequent. Interpreting this type of dream may be calling the dreamer to protect their domains against risks that are beyond your secured zone.
Religious or spiritual revelation that heralds the end of the world is a powerful image. Usually, the dreamer will see some significant icons of their faith initiating or withstanding the destruction. Another scenario is that adherents to the mysticism are identified in a particular way and survive the destruction because of their association. In these dreams, the world is often reordered. Many times, these dreams will accompany a time in the dreamer's life when he or she feels that the entire world is against them and only their association with something larger than themselves can provide a resolution.
Feminist 'End Time Kingdom':
With Hildegard the contribution to apocalyptic expectations ceased to be an exclusive male visionary activity on the fringe of Christian belief. Bernard McGinn summarizes her unique view of the end times as, "the picture that she has of the Antichrist, for example, as part of this play or scenario, is one of the most inventive of the entire medieval period. Well, Hildegard of course gives us several pictures of the end times. But the one that was most .. powerful, I think, is the picture in her book Scivias, the visionary book that she wrote in the 1140's. ... a series of visions, many of the connected with the heavenly world, ... the picture of the kingdoms of the end time and the birth of Antichrist from the Church. This is a powerful image of a vast female figure representing the Church, with this horrible monstrous head being born from the woman."
Holistic View of God and humanity:
"It is both fitting and just that such an impressive array of feminine medieval scholars should present this "faithful and unabridged translation" of the Scivias of Hildegard of Bingen. "Fitting," not because Hildegard was a rabid feminist in the modern sense, but because as a woman in a patriarchal age she dared to obey God 'instead of men,' preaching and writing to arouse to Christian responsibility a 'lukewarm and sluggish' clergy and an ill-informed people in what she called an 'effeminate age.' And 'just' because scholars of her own gender may best resonate with some of the struggles Hildegard faced in follower her prophetic calls, a mission that eventually won the support of her contemporary, St. Bernard, and the official endorsement of Pope Eugenius II himself. ... Granted Hildegard's fascinating personality, what is the real value of this particular book of her prophetic visions for us today? ...: "To students of spirituality, Hildegard remains of compelling interest ... as a perfect embodiment of the integrated, holistic approach to God and humanity for which our fragmented era longs" Sr. Helen Barrow, OSB
Medieval Apocalyptic Pantheism?
Hildegard of Bingen is one of the focal figures in the history of apocalypticism to promote its Judeo Christian symbolic prophecies. The brilliant German abbess, obscure but very mystical, a multi-talented woman, and a devoted believer in Biblical prophecy. Her innovation to the tradition was through illumination, presenting her vision, and commentaries on the prophecies, unfolded through paintings in which she employed to capture the core of her visions. The Last Judgment after the reign of the Antichrist penetrated into European culture, in her own day and later. Like other visionaries she felt called upon to reprove rulers; her correspondents included Henry II of England, the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Pope Eugenius III, and various other prelates.
In "The Illuminated Life," Nancy Mackenzie subtly echoes 'the divine essence present in all things,' as a proof of Hildegard's pantheism ('They speak of spirits in all things .. of poems all composed in the company of trees.') For Mackenzie it is 'the spirits' everywhere present. She echoes Matthew's Gospel (Matt.10:30) statement that 'even the hairs of your head have all been counted' as she takes a hair from her companion's head to fold into her 'book of life', poems written with trees and on the product of trees.
Popularization of Hildegard:
Hildegard's long life stands as testimony to what a brilliant and well-placed woman could accomplish in the medieval century that produced more outstanding women than any other. Virtually unknown for eight centuries of Western history, Hildegard was featured as one of the women in Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in the early 1980s and published for the first time in English by Bear & Company in 1982. In addition to her mystical teachings, Hildegard's music has been performed and recorded for a new and growing audience. 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."
"After his challenging presentation, we were walking to dinner through the wet slush of a Chicago January and I told Tom that I was working on a book on Hildegard of Bingen's paintings and illuminations. "Ah, Hildegard!" he said. "A great genius." And he was off expounding on Hildegard. He was the first person I had encountered who knew who she was. And of course his knowledge was of the deepest kind. Thomas Berry helps me to resacralize the gift of curiosity. So many people in our culture and so many clergy appear to be anything but curious. They are complacent. Intellectually complacent. But not Tom." Matthew Fox recalls
M. Fox Criticism:
It is wrong to give uninformed and Curia biased judgement on Matthew Fox theology, which is based on Eastern Churches Cosmology and Soteriology, rather than 'Illuminations book' review, a milestone in Catholic apocalyptic fascination. Fox gave a novel look at the Medieval seer, and made popular her illuminations, and consequently the Scivias. this book was a confirmation of 'Original Blessings' line of Nouvelle Theologie. His reference to Chenu, Master Eckhart, Mircea Eliade, Julian of Norwich, Carl Jung, and the like made his work inaccessible to dogma oriented hard liners.
For those pre Vatican II enthusiasts, let them be shocked out of their misinformation, when they learn that readings from the Apocalypse of John cannot be found in any Eastern Orthodox Lectionary. Visions and apocalypses are not so regarded in the Eastern Church. Even the book of Revelations of (John the Elder, a local bishop and disciple of John the beloved) was authorized by St. Athanasius in 367, to avoid alienating the Roman Church whose faithful admired it, while affirming the epistle to the Hebrews, the Alexandrine favorite, in exchange. Earlier Dionysius the Great, Papa of Alexandria(247 to 264) blamed Napos, Bishop of Arsenoi, ruling that the book of the Apocalypse was a distraction from the good News, which says that eternal life start here (John 17:3). Dionysius concluded, on his textual criticism, that the stylistic and lexical features of the book of revelation proved that the evangelist could not have written the book of apocalypse. So let alone Matthew Fox even if his editorial method is more colorful than precise.
Illuminations Reviews:
"It is evident from this (cover) picture that Hildegard [of Bingen] does not repress the shadow side of existence. For all of her celebration of divine illumination, she never forgets evil" Joanna Weston
"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." Thomas Berry, The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth
"Unfortunately , only a partial and unreliable version exists of the third book, Hildegarde of Bingen's book of divine Works, edited by Matthew Fox." Bernard McGinn
Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century: Essays on New Theological Perspectives in the Latin West (MART: The Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching)
Hildegard of Bingen's Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs
Summary of Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen
An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard. Reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and *intellectuals of the Western Mystical Tradition. *Contains 24 full-color illustrations by Hildegard of Bingen. *Includes commentary by Matthew Fox, author of Original Blessing (250,000 sold).Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) 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. She also wrote a text describing these visions entitled Scivias (Know the Ways), now published as Hildegard of Bingen's Mystical Visions.
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.
Virtually unknown for more than 800 years in Western history, Hildegard was featured as one of the women in Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in the early 1980s and published for the first time in English by Bear & Company in 1982. In addition to her mystical teachings, Hildegard's music has been performed and recorded for a new and growing audience.
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