Hildegard of Bingen's Book of Divine Works

Hildegard of Bingen, a Rhineland mystic of the twelfth century, has been called an ideal model of the liberated woman. She was a poet and scientist, painter and musician, healer and abbess, playwright, prophet, preacher and social critic. The Book of Divine Works was written between 1170 and 1173, and this is its first appearance in English. The third volume of a trilogy which includes Scivias, published by Bear & Company in 1985, this visionary work is a signal resounding throughout the planet that a time of healing and balance is at hand. The Book of Divine Works is a cosmology which reunites religion, science, and art, and readers will discover an astonishing symbiosis with contemporary physics in these 800-year-old visions. The present volume also contains 51 letters written by Hildegard to significant political and religious figures of her day and translations of twelve of her songs.

Editor Matthew Fox is a Dominican theologian. He is the author of ten books including Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality and Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, published by Bear & Company, and is the director of the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality, Oakland, California.

Introduction THE BOOK OF DIVINE WORKS FIRST PART: THE WORLD OF HUMANITY Translator's Note Foreword First Vision: On the Origin of Life Second Vision: On the Construction of the World Third Vision: On Human Nature Fourth Vision: On the Articulation of the Body SECOND PART: THE KINGDOM OF THE HEREAFTER Fifth Vision: The Places of Purification THIRD PART: THE HISTORY OF SALVATION Sixth Vision: On the Meaning of History Seventh Vision: Preparation for Christ Eighth Vision: On the Effect of Love Ninth Vision: Completion of the Cosmos Tenth Vision: On the End of Time LETTERS Translator's Note Letter One, Hildegard to Bernard of Clairvaux Letter Two, Hildegard to Pope Anastasius IV Letter Three, Hildegard to Bishop Eberhard II of Bamberg Letter Four, Hildegard to Archbishop Eberhard of Salzburg Letter Five, Hildegard to Archbishop Philip of Cologne Letter Six, Hildegard to King Konrad III Letter Seven, Hildegard to Frederick Letter Eight, Hildegard to Frederick Letter Nine, Hildegard to Bertha Letter Ten, Hildegard to King Henry II of England Letter Eleven, Hildegard to Her Spiritual Daughters Letter Twelve, Hildegard to Her Spiritual Daughters Letter Thirteen, Hildegard to Abbot Kuno Letter Fourteen, Hildegard to Prior Albert Letter Fifteen, Hildegard to Abbot Helenger Letter Sixteen, Hildegard to the Monks of Zwiefalten Letter Seventeen, Hildegard to Abbot Helmrich Letter Eighteen, Hildegard to Abbot Adam of Ebrach Letter Nineteen, Hildegard to Abbot Withelo Letter Twenty; Hildegard to the Five Burgundian Abbots Letter Twenty-One, Hildegard to Monks St. Eucharius Letter Twenty- Two, Hildegard to Abbot Philip Letter Twenty- Three, Hildegard to Abbot Philip Letter Twenty-Four, Hildegard to Philip and the Clergy Letter Twenty-Five, Hildegard to Werner of Kirchheim Letter Twenty-Six, Hildegard to a Religious Superior Letter Twenty-Seven, Hildegard to an Abbot Letter Twenty-Eight, Hildegard to a Priest Letter Twenty-Nine, Hildegard to an Abbot Letter Thirty, Hildegard to a Priest Letters Thirty-One & Thirty- Two, Hildegard to Gertrude Letter Thirty- Three, Hildegard to Bishop Eberhard Letter Thirty-Four, Hildegard to Elisabeth of Schongua Letter Thirty-Five, Hildegard to Elisabeth Letter Thirty-Six, Hildegard to Christian Lay People Letter Thirty-Seven, Hildegard to an Excommunicant Letter Thirty-Eight, Hildegard to an Unknown Lay Person Letter Thirty-Nine, Hildegard to Wibert of Gembloux Letter Forty; Hildegard to Wibert and the Monks of Villers Letter Forty-One, Hildegard to the Prelates of Mainz Letter Forty- Two, Hildegard to Archbishop Christian SONGS Introduction 1. Kyrie 2. 0 Virtus Sapientiae, 0 Moving Force of Wisdom 3. De Sancta Maria, In Praise of Mary 4. De Spiritu Sancto, To the Holy Spirit 5. Item De Virginibus, Praising Virgins 6. De Sancta Maria, To Mary 7. 0 Felix Anima, 0 Happy Soul 8. 0 Vis AeternitatisJ 0 Eternal Vigor 9. De Martyribus, In Praise of Martyrs 10. De Innocentibus, To the Innocents 11. De Sancto Disibodo, In Honor of St. Disibode 12. 0 Coruscans Lux, 0 Burning Light Appendices