Social Mysticism: Hildegard Von Bingen and the Benedictine Values

Saint Hildegard of Bingen contained so many multitudes that it is almost impossible to believe they could cohere in a single person: She was a renowned poet, composer, theologian, philosopher, natural scientist, and mystic. In this talk, philosopher Bethany Henning and scholar of religion Andrew Taylor will discuss one of her lesser-known works, a commentary on the Order of Saint Benedict, and consider how her monophonic compositions generate lived encounters with religious values through musical experience. For the abbess and her nuns, music served to focus the attention on the holy and calibrate the experience of time.