Hildegard of Bingen, Gospel Interpreter

Abstract

In Hildegard of Bingen, Gospel Interpreter, Beverly Mayne Kienzle presents and acquaints readers with Hildegard’s fifty-eight Homilies on the Gospels―a dazzling summa of her theology and the culmination of her visionary insight and scriptural knowledge. Part one probes how a twelfth-century woman became the only known female Gospel interpreter of the Middle Ages. It includes an examination of Hildegard’s epistemology―how she received her basic theological education and how she extended her knowledge through divine revelations and intellectual exchange with her monastic network. Part two expounds on several of Hildegard’s homilies, elucidating the theological brilliance that emanates from the creative exegesis she shapes to develop profound, interweaving themes. Hildegard eschewed the linear, repetitive explanations of her predecessors and created an organically coherent body of thought, rich with interconnected spiritual symbols. Part three deals with the wide-ranging reception of Hildegard’s works and her inspiring legacy, extending from theology to medicine. Her prophetic voice resounds in the morally urgent areas of creation theology and the corruption of church and political leadership. Hildegard decries human disregard for the earth and its lust for power. Instead, she advocates the unifying capacity of nature, “viridity,” that fosters the interconnectedness of all creation.