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.

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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