Barbara Newman reintroduces English-speaking readers to an extraordinary and gifted figure of the twelfth-century renaissance. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was mystic and writer, musician and preacher, abbess and scientist who used symbolic theology to explore the meaning of her gender within the divine scheme of things.

With a new preface, bibliography, and discography, Sister of Wisdom is a landmark book in women's studies, and it will also be welcomed by readers in religion and history.

Barbara Newman is Associate Professor of English at Northwestern University.

"Newman analyzes carefully and critically the unique contributions that Hildegard, a twelfth-century abbess, mystic and scientist, made to the theology of her age, while at the same time successfully situating her within that very period."—Alice J. Laffey, R.S.M., America

"Newman's penetrating study of Hildegard's theology of the feminine fills a great need. . . . Although her stated subject is theology, the evidence she brings to bear on her subject comes from the whole range of Hildegard's writings: scientific, lyrical, doctrinal, epistolary. Newman's translations are her own and rich; they are from Latin, not from German translations of the text. Her detailed critical apparatus not only grounds her insights and arguments firmly in clearly identified primary sources, but also provides a rich bibliography."—Barbara Lachman Grant, Mystics Quarterly

"Newman brilliantly analyzes the feminine motifs that appear in the writings of the remarkable Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) who was a prophet, visionary, scientist, cosmologist, counselor, and reformer. . . . This is the first book on Hildegard in English and the only work of any length on her theology of the feminine."—A. McDowall, Choice

"At long last there has appeared an English-language book worthy of the person it studies. . . . Hildegard of Bingen was an exuberantly complex visualist and thinker; Dr. Newman's book is an excellent way of being introduced to Hildegard's sapiential visuals and thought."—Adris Newsletter

"This is simply the best book ever done on St. Hildegard in English—a well-conceptualized work of remarkable erudition and vigorous style. Medievalists will love it, and it will generate debate in the field."—Robert I. Burns, S. J.