Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life
Hildegard was a unique and remarkable woman of the 12th century who began the austere life of a religious at the age of eight. In light of the fact that she surmounted the typical restraints and low esteem in which women were held in the Middle Ages, her accomplishments were prodigious. That she wrote at all was exceptional. Her interests were both mystical and intellectual, including natural history, medicine, and science. Her musical works are performed even today. She is best known, though, for three lengthy theological works--discussed in some detail here--that came about from her visionary experiences. Just as Hildegard "sought to understand the world in all its aspects, natural, human and divine," this biography approaches her life from a scholarly viewpoint, seeking to interpret her visionary knowledge from a modern perspective. It is the first major work to do so.- Carol J. Lichtenberg, Washington State Univ. Lib., PullmanCopyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.