• Title: Book of Divine Works
• Author: Hildegard of Bingen & Matthew Fox
• Genre/Subject: Mysticism, Medieval Studies
• Publisher: Bear & Company
• Publication Date: 1987
• Start date: 11/20/24
• Finish date: 11/26/24

Review:

Hildegard of Bingen has been called a Renaissance woman centuries before the Renaissance. After reading this book I can unequivocally state this is not an opinion, it is an undisputed fact. As a Renaissance man myself, game recognizes game.

So, for starters, who was this woman with the hemi-loaded name? Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th century nun who changed the world. I will explain, but I believe that sentence is the best way to sum up this extraordinary woman. Hildegard was born in 1098 in the Rhine valley, in what would become modern day Germany. At the age of 8 her parents offered her to God as a gift and possibly even a tithe- for she was the tenth of ten children – by putting her into the capable hands of one Jutta of Spanheim (that would have made a great 80s band name) who was the abbess of a monastic cloister in Disibodenberg. Under Jutta’s administration Hildegard studied and matured into the amazing woman that she was to become. Upon Jutta’s death in 1136 Hildegard was chosen to lead her community. In what would be her most controversial decision she packed up her nuns and moved to a new cloister near a town called Bingen, from which we take her name. Back in those times people were often referred to by the name of their kingdom, town, or apostolic district. You will often see her name as Hildegard von Bingen, which simply means “of” Bingen. To understand this easily we can consider that if Hildegard had not moved the community to Bingen she would have been known to posterity as Hildegard of Disibodenberg. I would be Neilos von Calgary.

At the age of three Hildegard had her first prophetic vision, and the visions would continue for the rest of her life. Unlike most humans at the time Hildegard lived a very long life, making it to 81 years old in an age when the average life expectancy for a European was 30-33 years. So there were a lot of visions throughout her long life, and this is the third and final book that she wrote describing them.

Written between 1170 and 1173 The Book of Divine Works deals primarily with 10 of her visions. Each vision is accompanied by an illustration of the vision and these are wonderful. I love those medieval manuscript illustrations with the peculiar perspective or lack thereof. So you look at the illustration and then read Hildegard’s text interpreting the vision. Essentially, “and I saw the figure of a man but with the head of a leopard and this is to be interpreted as follows…” If this sounds boring to you, I thought that would be the case too. But oddly it is very engrossing and I couldn’t put the book down once I got stuck in.

The back cover of the book describes it thus, “This visionary work is a signal resounding throughout the planet that a time of healing and balance is at hand.” Well, I hate to disappoint but it’s not that. There is always a temptation when reading any book of supposed prophecy to ascribe modern events to the prophecy. This is a logical fallacy called post hoc ergo proctor hoc, which simply means “after this, therefore because of this.” The cat meowed before the car accident, thus the cat predicted the car accident. So you won’t find that Hildegard predicted the outcome of the 1976 world series. You will find a lot of extraordinary insight that can be a guide and even a warning to ours and to future generations.

From Vision Five: Section Two, “The Earth, if it were rectangular instead of round, would have a weakness and inequality of weight at its corners.” Flat earth proponents in 2024, take notice.

From Vision Eight: Section Two: “Satan was well known on high, and he thought that he could do what he wanted without giving up the brilliance of the stars. He wanted everything, and because he made a grab for it all, he lost all he had.” January 6, 2021.

From Vision Eight: Section Four: “Arrogance is always evil because it oppresses everything. disperses everything, and deprives everything. By contrast, humility does not rob people or take anything from them. Rather it holds everything together in love.” Apply this to almost any billionaire, politician, or billionaire funded politician. Oh you masters of war…

From Vision Ten: Section Seven: “Then the greening power of life on Earth was reduced in every seed because the upper region of the air was altered in a way contrary to its first destiny.” Climate change deniers take note, take a careful look at this.

And finally from Vision Ten: Section Nine: “Matthew himself prepared a garment made from the silk of good intentions.” Silk is the word that caught my eye as in the 12th century that one product was the most expensive and rare item that could be procured by anyone up to and including the king. Silk was carried on the routes that now bear its name, the Silk Road, and that’s something I am really interested in. What I mean is that by association with silk, our Hildegard living in a cloister in rural Germany knew about the wider world even as far as China in the farthest reaches of the medieval world. By contrast most of the humans alive in Europe at that time had little knowledge of anywhere or anything beyond their own village or fiefdom.

Hildegard of Bingen was a liberated woman in a time when that was an impossibility. As proof of this one only has to read some of the letters included in this volume. Take lettter one. From Hildegard to Bernard of Clairvaux. He might not be familiar to you but he founded a little order called, oh you know the Knights Templars. He also was instrumental in organizing and encouraging the second crusade. And Hildegard was giving him advice. Or letter two, to Pope Anastasius. Or the letters to kings, archbishops, men of power and possessors of vast territories. They all asked this obscure nun in a backwater nunnery for advice and counsel. Reading the letters I can understand why.

Hildegard of Bingen was a poet, painter, scientist, physician, playwright, prophet, preacher, and social critic. 800 years later her ideas, opinions and commentaries are still of immense value to us living today in our damaged world. She preached humility, love and respect, things that we are desperately in need of today. She owned nothing, lived simply and yet left a legacy that is more valuable than gold. More than silk. One of the most profound and insightful books I have ever read. Well done Hildegard, you have earned the coveted and rare Neilosian Five Stars.