A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

228 susanne ruge
Thus, even before the purifying punishments are sketched out for the
fijirst time and corresponding penitential acts are suggested, the reader is
presented with an image about the foundational conflict in which humanity
fijinds itself. The reader knows with certainty which means the devil
employs in this battle, and what threatens those humans who rely upon
Satan. Readers are also granted the knowledge that God has sent the
virtues, Christ, and the Church in order to defeat the devil and to assist
humanity. Finally, the reader also learns that there is a possibility of winning
the battle against evil because those souls who dwell in the heavenly
residence awaiting their fijinal salvation give voice to this information.
Part two concerns salvation history. The Man in the Cosmos has wings
upon his chest, upon which appear books, representing the Old and New
Testaments. God defeats the devil in the New Testament, in that Christ’s
virginal birth and his sacrifijice upon the cross ultimately prevail. God’s
powerful and sovereign speech and his actions are again evident in the
history of salvation, as part two is primarily concerned with the power
that God expresses in the crucifijixion, and in God’s plan, which is fulfijilled
by the virgin birth and the sacrifijice.24
The souls of the saints who have died also speak in part two as the
reader is shown what God has done for humanity, how powerfully he has
conquered the devil, and what the future offfers to those who perform
penance.
All of the above are topics about which humanity knows nothing except
through revelations from God. Parts one and two sketch out the contents
of God’s divine will, events that occurred before the time of humanity,
and important background knowledge for understanding humankind’s
present situation.
This revelatory knowledge is contrasted in parts three and four with
topics concerning the theology of creation and anthropology. Natural
coherencies are presented, such as waxing and waning, rising and falling.25
The cosmos is presented as it stands in the good order created by God: a
universe, in which all beings have a task, and insofar as each fulfijills this
task, then each also offfers praise unto God. Humanity’s task, within this
cosmos, is to speak out in praise of God; the task of other beings, such as
plants, exists in that they nourish humanity and thus enable the latter to
24 Ibid., 2, p. 86.
25 Ibid., 3, pp. 137–38; 4, pp. 183–85.