Virginity as Virtue? Hildegard of Bingen’s Contribution to a Christian Feminist Ethics

Virginity as Virtue? Hildegard of Bingen's Contribution to a Christian Feminist Ethics Andrew Lukas (bio) Andrew Lukas Andrew Lukas recently graduated with a master's degree from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He hopes to offer new perspectives on contemporary theological issues using the wisdom of the tradition in the manner of the ressourcement school. Footnotes 1. See, for example, Tisha M. Rajendra, "Burdened Solidarity: The Virtue of Solidarity in Diaspora," Society for Christian Ethics Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, January 4–7, 2018; Nichole M. Flores, "Ethics from Marginalized Perspectives" in Reimagining the Moral Life: On Lisa Sowle Cahill's Contributions to Christian Ethics, ed. K. C. Choi, Sarah Moses, and Andrea Vicini, S.J. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2020), 149–160; and Miguel de la Torre, Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004). 2. Robin S. Dillon, "Feminist Approaches to Virtue Ethics," in The Oxford Handbook of Virtue, ed. Nancy E. Snow (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 1. 3. See Nancy E. Snow, "Virtue and the Oppression of Women," Canadian Journal of Philosophy 32 (1992): 34–35. 4. It is not clear whether Hildegard was ever explicitly addressed as "abbess." Scholars think that the titles "mother" (mater) and "teacher" (magistra) were more commonly used by Hildegard. For a discussion of this topic, see John Van Engen, "Abbess: 'Mother and Teacher,'" in Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, ed. Barbara Newman (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998), 30–51. 5. See Joyce C. Abma and Gladys M. Martinez, "Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use Among Teenagers in the United States, 2011–2015," National Health Statistics Reports 104 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2017): 4–11. 6. For an overview of this development, see James F. Keenan, S.J., A History of Catholic Moral Theology in the Twentieth Century: From Confessing Sins to Liberating Consciences (London: Continuum, 2010), esp. Chapters 1 and 8. 7. Dillon, "Feminist Approaches," 3. 8. See Carnevale, Anthony P., Nicole Smith, and Kathryn Peltier Campbell, May the Best Woman Win? Education and Bias Against Women in American Politics (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2019), 1–10. 9. Dillon, "Feminist Approaches," 4–5. 10. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Mother Columba Hart, O.S.B. and Jane Bishop (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), III.III.3. (citations refer to the book, vision, and chapter numbers of the Scivias, respectively). 11. See Hildegard, III.I.1. 12. Hildegard, III.III.1. 13. Hildegard, III.III.3. 14. Hildegard, "Declaration." 15. The voice Hildegard hears from heaven refers to itself as the "lux vivens" in the Protestificatio preceding the first vision. It is a title Hildegard uses to refer to this voice throughout the text. See Hildigardis, Scivias, ed. Adelgundis Führkötter, O.S.B. and Angela Carlevaris, O.S.B., Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 43 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1978), 4. 16. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I–II q. 64. 17. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1999, 2nd ed.), I.9.7 (1099b26–27). 18. Hildegard, I.I.1–2. 19. Margot E. Fassler, "Allegorical Architecture in Scivias: Hildegard's Setting for the Ordo Virtutum," Journal of the American Musicological Society 67, no. 2 (2014): 328–329. 20. Hildegard, I.II.31. 21. Hildegard, I.II.33. 22. Hildegard, II.VII.25. 23. Hildegard, III.I.12. 24. Hildegard, III.I.13. 25. Hildegard, III.II.0. 26. Hildegard, III.II.2. 27. Hildegard, III.II.19. 28. Hildegard, III.II.19. 29. Hildegard, III.II.19. 30. Van Engen, "Abbess: 'Mother and Teacher,'" 30. 31. Hildegard, II.II.24. 32. Hildegard, II.II.24. 33. Hildegard, II.V.13. 34. Hildegard, II.V.13. 35. Van Engen, "Abbess: 'Mother and Teacher,'" 31. 36. Hildegard, II.V.13. 37. Hildegard, II.V.6. 38. Hildegard, II.V.15. 39. Hildegard, II.V.15. 40. Hildegard, II.V.6. 41. In a letter to Archbishop Hillinus of Trier, Hildegard laments that the present age has become a "squalid, womanish time" (Letter 26r). See The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, vol. 1, trans. Joseph L. Baird and Radd K...

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