
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994                   TAG: 9405170041
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by MARIE S. BEAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A NUN'S TALE IS INSPIRING

One might ask who in the world would be interested in the story of a 12th-century nun, an obscure prophetess called ``the Sybil of the Rhine.'' But Hildegard was no ordinary nun, and since her works began to be translated in the 1960s, many people from various disciplines have found inspiration in her life, her music, her writings.

For more than 20 years Barbara Lachman, author and lecturer, immersed herself in the study of Hildegard and her world. ``The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen'' is the product of that devotion.

It is a fictionalized account of one liturgical year in the life of Hildegard - abbess, composer, healer, writer and preacher. Fictional autobiography does not always succeed as either fiction or autobiography, but Lachman's scholarly dedication to the spirit and truth of Hildegard's life rewards the reader with a convincing and inspiring work.

Lachman does not present us with a plaster saint. Hildegard was a woman of strong will and singleness of mind. She was very much a product of her time, holding with conventional wisdom that women were inherently weaker than men. Nonetheless, emboldened by her visions and supported by a disciplined life, Hildegard was driven to try to overreach her own limitations and those of a restrictive culture. From a strong sense of self and of vocation there flowed a brilliant and beneficent stream of creativity.

Lachman has given us a book that raises fundamental questions relating to the meaning of creativity, of authentic personhood, of purpose, of spirituality; and to the place of mystery in our scientific and technological world. It is well worth reading.

Marie S. Bean is a retired college chaplain.

by CNB