Carmen’s Chatter

Today I had a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong and wonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnderful talk with Mr. Jon Sweeney and Ms. Danielle Bushnell at Paraclete Press. These publishing masterminds want me to help them create an “Internet buzz” for the Hildegard book I wrote and that Paraclete Press is releasing this March! Yes, in only a couple of months now! Start the countdown!

I thought I would do a YouTube segment and a Podcast, with my husband’s help, maybe sing some Old English prayers/songs. I’ve made up some tunes, and they seem to fly in the classroom and elsewhere, so…. I’m hoping Danielle Buckley, the master of all things CREATIVE will help me. Any one else want to help? I’d love my Hildegard book to find its way into an amazon books list (those wonderful listmanias). Teresa Polk has been kind to include my earlier Incandescence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics there. Thanks, Teresa! She’s got some great lists! If you google Teresa Polk, you’ll find her listmanias! Under Christian Women Mystics you’ll find Incandescence–it’s at http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/byauthor/A2RUUSIKWUKAQ5.

To launch my “Internet buzz,” here are three reviews written by people who are you-can’t-believe-how-busyily-engaged-with-life busy. Honest! Paraclete Press sent them review copies way ahead of the March publication, and they kindly pored over these advance copies of Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Life. Dr. Katharina Wilson is an award-winning full professor of Comparative Literature at The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and she has written countless seminal books on medieval women writers. Dr. Scot McKnight is an amazing author and lecturer and is well-known for many reasons, including his www.jesuscreed.org website, which is both ultra-thought-provoking and ultra-cool! Brother Benet Exton is the most amazing monk who reads more books every week or so than I have fingers and toes, and his well-written, cogent reviews are well-known at the Curled Up with a Good Book website at http://www.curledup.com/staffbio.htm. Check it out! And check out www.jesuscreed.org, too! Also, check out the books by these three splendid writers!

Here are the three reviews of Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader, and I remain grateful to these three colleagues for taking the time out of their abundant schedules to write these. Thank you!

Dear Ms Lynch,

I just finished Dr. Butcher’s manuscript, and I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. In fact, it was one of those texts that, imperceptibly but irresistibly, draws you in until you fall in step with the author in her perambulations between the 12th and 21st centuries. Good medievalist that she is, her mode of presentation, analogical logic, is the favored form of medieval argumentation, but her transposition of this usually theological, legal or scientific methodology to seemingly banal events is nothing short of delightful.

The introductory essay detailing Hildegard’s life and accomplishments is engaging, her obvious affinity with her subject spiritually inspiring, and her presentation scholarly and lucid.

Where her true contribution to Hildegard studies lies, is in her genuinely masterful rendering of Hildegard’s texts. With a keen eye for the multifaceted Latin of the source texts as well as the specifically Hildegardian cadence of her language, Butcher was able to create texts that, like the original, are epitomes of vigor, striking metaphoric expression, directness and immediacy. As I was reading
them, I often felt I was reading Hildegard, the real Hildegard, for the first time.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read the text.

Katharina M. Wilson
Professor of Comparative Literature
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Women trapped in a man’s world, such as many women were in the
Medieval era, found freedom in monasticism. None more so than
Hildegard of Bingen. Carmen Butcher wisely selects and elegantly
translates Hildegard’s works, including her soaring music, spiritual
visions, and selected letters. What strikes any reader today about
Hildegard is her audacity ¬ born of faith and fostered in prayer,
Hildegard confronted the powers of her day with words about the Living
Word.

Scot McKnight
Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies North Park University
3225 W. Foster Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
smcknight@northpark.edu
www.jesuscreed.org

Curled up – Butcher (Hildegard)

Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader. Carmen Acevedo Butcher. Paraclete Press. 244 pages? March 2007.

4 ½ stars out of 5

If the Pope were to look for another woman saint to be named as a Doctor of the Church, St. Hildegard of Bingen would be a great candidate for this title. St. Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess of two monasteries of nuns in Germany near the Rhine River. She lived from 1098 to 1179. She lived during the time of the great Doctor of the Church, St. Bernard of Clarivaux, also a follower of the Rule of St. Benedict. St. Hildegard was a great mystic and preacher. She is unusual for she publicly preached to clergy and lay people when this was an unusual occurrence. She was not a rebel speaking against the Church, but a firm believer who had permission from the Pope and bishops to preach to build up and encourage all Christians no matter what their rank was in society to live as good Christians. St. Hildegard had many visions which she was ordered by Church authorities to write down. St. Hildegard did not rely on her self fearing she might be deceived by the devil. She always discussed the visions with her confessor who was a Benedictine monk. St. Hildegard was not a healthy person. She most likely had migraines which were severe. She was able though to learn about theology, nature, medicines and philosophy. She wrote music and plays. She was one of the early writers of morality plays. Because of her holiness St. Hildegard’s advice was sought by nobles and peasants alike. High churchmen, like Pope Eugene III, sought her advice and encouraged her preaching. He read part of her visions at a synod meeting of bishops he was attending. She stood up to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, who was challenging the Church’s authority and causing trouble for others. St. Hildegard lived to be 81 years old which was unusual for people in those days. She was not canonized by the Church, but acclaimed a saint by the people of God. Her feast day is September 17th.

Carmen Acevedo Butcher has created this reader of St. Hildegard’s works. Butcher has translated Hildegard’s words into modern English. This is English that even teenagers and young adults would relate too. There are seven chapters to this reader. Before them is a short biography of St. Hildegard. At the beginning of each chapter Butcher provides an introduction to the work she is translating. She provides examples from Hildegard’s songs in chapter one. Some of these songs one can find have been put to music and are available as CDs. Butcher provides a list of these in her bibliography. Hildegard’s songs are in Latin and are very moving and mesmerizing to hear. She created her own musical notation. In chapter two Butcher provides examples from Hildegard’s work Scivias which “is a very orthodox handbook for good Christian living.” This is a work of theology. She follows the example of St. Augustine according to Butcher. In chapter three Butcher presents Hildegard’s The Play of Virtues which is a morality play that was written and acted out by Hildegard’s nuns in the 11th-12th century which was before the popularity of morality plays in the 14th century occurred. She was ahead of her times. This play is about the devil trying to seduce a soul and how the virtues try to help the soul against the devil. Chapter four Butchers provides some selections from Hildegard’s letters to various people. Chapter five is examples from Physica and Causes and Cures which are books that Hildegard wrote about medicine and health. She gives remedies on what to do when a person over eats, on the use of garlic and apples and other medical aids and advice. Chapter six is on The Book of Life’s Merits which is about Hildegard’s visions “on the temptations every Christian encounters and how God can help.” She presents vices and their counter virtues to show how one should live. Chapter seven is on The Book of Divine Works which is about God’s love for humanity and for creation. This is a work of theology. Butcher provides two appendices, the first being a chronology of Hildegard’s life and the second a bibliography her works and those about her and a list of the recordings of her music.

Carmen Butcher has written with a down to earth style that speaks to modern or post-modern people the works of St. Hildegard. She has also provided great introductions into the various works of the saint. Too bad St. Hildegard’s commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict was not included although some quotes are present in this book. This work is highly recommended to those interested in the works of St. Hildegard of Bingen or those interested in Benedictine spirituality. This spiritual reader will speak to the soul. The reader just has to listen.

Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher is the author of Man of God: A Life of St. Benedict (2006), God of Mercy: Aelfric’s Sermons and Theology (2006), and Incandenscence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics (2005). – Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee, Oklahoma.

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