Reviews for Hildegardis Bingensis Liber divinorum operum

The average rating for Hildegardis Bingensis Liber divinorum operum based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-14 00:00:00 Marcus Cline The New Millennium edition of the historical book written by King Henry VIII titled, Defense of the Seven Sacraments, has been published in the United States. In light of current de-populating demographic trends in Europe, Defense of the Seven Sacraments takes on new relevance. Secularization, moral decay, de-population and the explosion of Islamic immigration to the continent are fueling the rapid de-Christianization of Europe. If Europe and the Christian West are to survive as Christian and as Western in this new millennium, with any hope of repelling the Islamization of European culture, the reunification of Christians is necessary. And King Henry's book is anexcellent way to achieve this end. I am not the only one who is concerned about islamization: Last year, the personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, Fr. Georg Gaenswein, alerted the international community about the threat of the islamization of Europe. He declared to the German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung (26 July 2007): “One must not ignore the attempts to Islamize Europe, and the Catholic Church clearly sees this danger. This kind of attitude may present a risk for European identity.” Demonstrably, the first step to counter this trend is Christian reunification. Ironically, King Henry VIII’s own pen can ignite unity en route to save Christendom. Most Christians identify King Henry VIII as a co-founder of the Protestant Reformation, along with Martin Luther. However, Henry was an accomplished theologian and staunch defender of the Catholic Faith. He was even granted the title, Defender of the Faith, by Pope Leo X. After Henry’s death and especially during the reign of Elizabeth I, his treatise on the Sacraments was buried with him. What followed was the systematic dismantling and destruction of the Catholic Church in England, which not only separated Englishmen from most of the sacramental life of Christ’s Church, but also set in motion a Cultural Revolution that has, centuries later, helped bringing about a profound moral relativism and decadence in European society. Christians must reunite Christians and counter the Islamization of Europe. This reunification is all the more urgent since demographers forecast Islam to be the dominant religion in Europe before 2050. By the end of this century, Europeans risk becoming ethnic minorities in their own countries, De Souza maintains. It is clear from the book that Henry VIII believed the Reformation of Martin Luther was a destructive force in Christendom, spawning thousands of sects with competing interpretations of Scripture. Luther’s Revolution led to the religious fragmentation and gradual de-Christianization of Europe, bringing about a dangerous apathy toward the rise of Islam within its borders. That fragmentation of Christianity continues today, racked by doctrinal novelty and moral decay. The World Anglican Communion appears to be crumbling, especially after more than 400,000 members, including bishops and priests, have already sought reunification with Rome. Issues such as the ordination to the episcopate of practicing homosexuals and women are seen as totally irreconcilable with authentic Gospel teaching doctrine and scandalous to the faithful. Throughout history, a Europe unified in the truth of the Gospel was able time and again to withstand the menacing attempts by Islam to subjugate all of European society. Now, because of the vacuum created by de-population and de-Christianization, Islam is rapidly changing the face of European culture. Thus, the reunification of Christians is essential for Europe’s survival as a Christian and Western civilization. Further information on this historical book may be found at www.KeysofPeter.org ____________________________

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-26 00:00:00 Dani Marcushevic This book, and the experience of reading it, is one for which the star system of Goodreads is ill-suited; these four stars designate that I found the book of limited and great value. Aelred defines spiritual friendship (only one of many possible good Christian relationships, though the best) as a friendship that unites reason and affection. A spiritual friend is at once someone who is objectively very good for us and someone toward whom our heart greatly warms. Other kinds of relationships do not feature those two characteristics in deep and equal proportion. Aelred says that, as long as the spiritual friendship disobeys no laws (those limits set down by reason), there is no limit to its possible affection, and consequently to its payoff in this world and the next, whereby the intimacy with a person here foreshadows and leads to intimacy with God. The intimacy is something like union into one soul; it is eternal. As a monk writing to and about monks, his model of friendship depends on sameness, not difference. You look for a spiritual friend who shares as many of your best qualities as possible, you know how to love your friend because you are discerning enough to love that which is best about yourself, and you two gradually become more like one person (even acting alike). The emotional fervour he describes is often relegated by our culture into eroticism, but he never takes that path, nor ever apparently considers it. He does pick up the “one person” (though not “one flesh”) stuff from the Bible, as if friendship is kind of like heart marriage, but one gets the impression that erotic expression of the affective part of this friendship would be beside the point, would slow it down on its headlong rush toward spirit. I find Aelred’s concept of spiritual friendship inspiring and plausible. I do get the feeling that spiritual friendship comes naturally to Aelred. He’s very good at definition and description because he’s experienced what he’s talking about and wants us to know that it is A Thing. And so it is. But because it comes so naturally to him, he’s a bit less effective in discussing the practical intricacies of what just comes to him on instinct. He talks a lot about picking and developing the right friend, and about what to do if your friend flakes off, but not as much about handling your own failures and limitations, because it doesn’t seem like the sort-of-sainted “Bernard of the North” had many of those to struggle with. Someone needs to write a sequel about how to pop the hood on a spiritual friendship and tune up the mechanism. “Spiritual Friendship: Best Practices,” something like that.