This session will cover a historical and theological introduction to the twelfth-century female mystic Hildegard of Bingen.

Beginning with Hildegard’s life, we will learn how Hildegard navigated tumultuous times of crusade, reform, and conflict between church and state. Given to a monastery as a child, Hildegard answered God’s call to share her divine visions at the age of 42. From this point, her fame and authority grew exponentially. She advised popes and kings, going as far as to tell off her emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, whom she called “a little boy, or some mad man.” As a magistra, she defied the monks of her monastery, leading her nuns to establish a new, female-only community. By the end of her life, she was one of the most famous women in all of medieval Europe.

As the counterpart to Hildegard’s life and times, we will also dive into her unique theology. Hildegard wrote three books of visionary theology, and was one of the very few medieval female mystics who wrote down her own visions, rather than dictating them to a man. Her theological worldview integrated the natural and the supernatural, emphasising humanity’s connection with nature as God’s creation. Hildegard’s attentiveness to the natural world becomes ever more pressing in our own tumultuous times, as we face the challenges of pandemics and climate change. How can Hildegard’s theology help us navigate our world in 2025?

About the tutor
Lauren Cole is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Northwestern University, USA. She is a Visiting Scholar at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, where she holds a DAAD Fellowship. Lauren has been working on Hildegard of Bingen since 2014, presenting, publishing and speaking publicly on Hildegard’s theology and medicine. Lauren’s PhD thesis investigates networks of medical knowledge in medical manuscripts of Hildegard. She is also a public historian on TikTok.

About the Women Mystics Series

While male voices have dominated our understanding of Christian theology and history, significant work over the last fifty years has sought out and made available the voices of powerful and important female theologians through the history of Christianity. First and foremost, these voices belong to female mystics.

This series, run jointly by Sarum College and The Church Times, looks at five of the most important female mystics from Christianity in chronological order. Each session runs 7.30-9 PM on a Monday and is led by an expert on the female mystic in question. Each webinar will consist of a lecture and a Q&A session.

Subsequent sessions are:
10 February: Clare of Assisi, with Michael Hahn
10 March: Julian of Norwich, with Hannah Lucas
14 April: Teresa of Avila, with Gillian Ahlgren
19 May: Thea Bowman, with Manuel Williams

Each session will be recorded and a link to the video provided to everyone registered.

Browse this list of specially priced books from Hymns Ancient & Modern related to the series