Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Journal / Book Title

여성학논집

Abstract

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine nun, specialized in theology, medicine, and other various fields. Her Cause et cure, "Cause and cure" in English, is one of her many writings that show Hildegard's unique understanding of the human body and soul. Especially this medicinal book presents an unusually favorable understanding of the woman's reproductive body as something healing and creative, which contrasts the polluting and dangerous nature commonly attributed to the woman's body according to the most medieval male theologians and physicians. For Hildegard, conception, pregnancy, and childbirth are the holy repetition of God's Creation. Moreover, these reproductive processes present that the woman's body has a great power to restore the pure body so that it can create a new life in it. Hildegard's positive understanding of the female body was supported by the contemporary medical and theological theories that women were weak and soft. Rather than taking them to insist on the woman's inferiority, Hildegard used it to support the woman's power to give new lives and salvation to humankind. Women's creativity and salvational roles were not limited to the Virgin Mary but shared with women in general whether they chose to deliver a baby as a mother or God's messages as a female mystic when elite men were so corrupted to fulfill their duties. While Hildegard of Bingen's views of women have certain limitations, her book represents a clear example of how women have been building their understanding of women against male-centered church and medicine in history.

Comments

Alternate title: Woman's Weakness Saving Humankind: Hildegard of Bingen's Views of the Woman's Reproduction and Sexual Differences

Note: Article is in Korean.

DOI

10.18341/wsr.2021.38.2.95

Journal ISSN / Book ISBN

191207615 (Orcid)

Published Citation

Lee, Minji. “Woman’s Weakness Saving Humankind: Hildegard of Bingen’s Views of the Woman’s Reproduction and Sexual Differences.” Women’s Studies Review, vol. 38, no. 2, Dec. 2021, pp. 95–126. https://doi.org/10.18341/WSR.2021.38.2.95.

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