I just finished Dr. Butcher's manuscript, and I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. In fact, it was one of those texts that, imperceptibly but irresistibly, draws you in until you fall in step with the author in her perambulations between the 12th and 21st centuries. Good medievalist that she is, her mode of presentation, analogical logic, if the favored form of medieval argumentation, but her transposition of this usually theological, legal or scientific methodology to seemingly banal events is nothing short of delightful.The introductory essay detailing Hildegard's life and accomplishments is engaging, her obvious affinity with her subject spiritually inspiring, and her presentation scholarly and lucid. Where her true contribution to Hildegard studies lies, is in her genuinely masterful rendering of Hildegard's texts. With a keen eye for the multifaceted Latin of the source texts as well as the specifically Hildegardian cadence of her language, Butcher was able to create texts that, like the original, are epitomes of vigor, striking metaphoric expression, directness and immediacy. As I was reading them, I often felt I was reading Hildegard, the real Hildegard, for the first time. (Dr. Katharina Wilson, Professor of Comparative Literature The University of Georgia)

Dr. Carmen Butcher has presented St. Hildegard of Bingen’s work in modern English which will lead the reader to want to read and learn more about St. Hildegard and her complete works. She had tapped into St. Hildegard’s spirit and made it accessible to the people of today. (Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., St. Gregory's Abbey and University, Shawnee, OK.)

This book is a gift to the church. Carmen Acevedo Butcher brings Hildegard of Bingen to life for us. Women trapped in a man’s world, such as many women were in the Middle Ages, found freedom in monasticism. None more so than Hildegard of Bingen. Carmen Butcher wisely selects and elegantly translates Hildegard’s works, including her soaring music, spiritual visions, and selected letters. What strikes any reader today about Hildegard is her audacity ­ born of faith and fostered in prayer, Hildegard confronted the powers of her day with words about the Living Word. (Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies North Park University)