Hildegard Faith And Reason Analysis

Faith and how it relates to reason is showcased in numerous philosophical texts. Philosophers behind these texts take different approaches and demonstrate – both directly and indirectly – how faith and reason relate to one another, or not at all. The relation of faith and reason can be traced back to Ancient Greek and early Christian thought, but is more predominantly evident in Hildegard of Bingen’s The Book of Divine Works and Galilei Galileo’s Letter to Madame Christina of Loraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Hildegard and Galileo think faith and reason relate to one another; however, the role of faith and how it influences each thinker is where this correlation diverges. Faith plays a heavy role in Hildegard’s reasoning because through her revelation – visionary experiences – God speaks to her and has her write His word in order to provide knowledge of Him. On the other hand, Galileo believes that faith should not affect reason because the Bible’s role is only for salvation; scientific reasoning should rather bolster what the Bible says or cannot explain. Thus faith and reason do relate

to one another, but the way in which the two correlate based on Hildegard and Galileo’s accounts of knowledge differ.
Credibility
To begin, one of the major differences between Galileo and Hildegard’s views on religion is the credibility of the Bible and the religion of Christianity itself. Hildegard holds the belief that the Bible’s word is implicitly correct for the sole purpose that it is a religious text, while Galileo needs more proof and concrete fact before a text or idea becomes credible. For example, Hildegard relies on direct visions from God and her interpretation of such revelation to account for facts with no proof that it is actually God’s voice, but instead may be her own biases. Her word can be conceived as unreliable because she is a third-person middle man delivering the word that she believes to be the truth.
Galileo, on the other hand, does not believe in spreading knowledge that is not credible in the sense that it is not being delivered in first person or with physical or concrete evidence. He even goes on to attack the Bible by saying, “I should judge that the authority of the Bible was designed to persuade men of those articles and propositions which surpassing all human reasoning, could not be made credible by science, or by any other means than through the very mouth of the Holy Spirit”(Galileo). In this quote, Galileo goes on to say that the Bible is a tool used to persuade men to think a certain way, but that he judges the authority it holds because there is no empirical evidence to back up what the Bible is saying or how man should behave based on the text of the Bible. This is a stark difference from the opposing ideas of Hildegard, who simply believes that visions and deep explanation of these visions are enough to give her religious experiences credibility.
Both Hildegard and Galileo, however, provide detailed writings. While Hildegard’s visions may not be as credible as Galileo, her writings are full of passion and devotion for God. Her close attention to detail and emphasis make her visions believable. One may believe what she has to say because they can relate; her discussion of humility, for instance, can apply to one’s life because if one does not treat others with humility from a position of power, arrogance will corrupt that human being.1 Additionally, Galileo’s detailed-description and defense of the Heliocentric Universe provides a stable ground to combat his critics.2 Not only did Galileo
defend his scientific findings, he explained why and how his findings would benefit human kind and bolster the areas of uncertainty the Bible cannot explain.
Disregard of the Bible
Furthermore, both Hildegard and Galileo more or less disregard the Bible, but for different reasons.

Hildegard evidently does not refer to or speak of the Bible because her visions are evidence of God relaying His word through her. Being as Hildegard has a direct connection with God as a vessel for Hid word, she indirectly renders the Bible useless because her visionary experiences provide knowledge of God that the Bible would otherwise provide. The Bible is traditionally seen as the source of knowledge of God, how human beings should coexist, and salvation. Though Hildegard does not denounce or directly disregard the Bible, she indirectly does so because she takes it upon herself to teach the ways of God through her visions. Even though God comes to her and she agrees to write His word, it seems as if God Himself indirectly disregards the Bible more so than

Hildegard.
Much like Hildegard, Galileo disregards the Bible; however, Galileo says the Bible should be kept separate from his research because the role of the Bible is salvation, not to show how the world works. In other words, Galileo believes the Bible should not play a role in scientific discovery because it does not provide reasoning for the unknown – the Bible is not a science book, but a book of revelation. Galileo believes the Bible should not affect his research because God gave man sense and reason to use it. He thus pushes the Bible aside when explaining his theory of how the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun because it simply does not provide reasoning for science.
Teachings
Subsequently, both philosophers infuse faith and reason in their teachings of God or scientific fact; however, the means through which Hildegard and Galileo relay their teaching differ – Hildegard teaches through visions she receives from God while Galileo teaches through hypothesis and experimentation. Hildegard’s visions provide knowledge of God, but also infuse faith because of her devotion to Christianity and intimate relationship with God. During her visionary experiences, Hildegard provides great detail and is spiritually ‘touched’ by God – this intimate relationship, bolstered by faith, provides the reader knowledge.1 Her vision, “Love, Humility and Peace,” highlights what God says all human beings should do in order to coexist: “Everything God has effected, he has perfected in Love, Humility and Peace. So it is, that man, too, should esteem Love, embrace Humility and grasp Peace, lest he rush into destruction along with the one who has been mocking those virtues from the moment of his birth.” Her teaching, through visions from God, provides knowledge of, or an understanding that all human beings must equilibrate Love, Humility and Peace to coexist and maintain perfection in love.1
On the other hand, Galileo teaches through hypothesis and experimentation. He states faith should not affect his research, but rather his research benefit faith; Galileo’s defense of a Heliocentric Universe in a letter to Madame Christina Lorraine explains how his research does not go against scripture, but only provides truth for what the Bible cannot explain. He argues that the Bible is not a science book, but is rather a book of revelation; the Bible does not explain how the world works. Galileo also states God gave man senses and reason to use those senses: “But I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them”. While defending his research by providing proof it does not go against God or the Bible, Galileo teaches hypothesizing the unexplained is just and acceptable. His teachings are thus not influenced by faith, but geared toward bolstering faith – providing truth to which the Bible cannot explain.
Conclusion
Faith and how it relates to reason is showcased in numerous philosophical texts. Philosophers behind these texts take different approaches and demonstrate – both directly and indirectly – how faith and reason relate to one another, or not at all. The relation of faith and is evident in Hildegard of Bingen’s The Book of Divine Works and Galilei Galileo’s Letter to Madame Christina of Loraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Hildegard and Galileo think faith and reason relate to one another; however, the role of faith and how it influences each thinker is where this correlation diverges. Faith plays a heavy role in Hildegard’s reasoning because through her revelation – visionary experiences – God speaks to her and has her write His word in order to provide knowledge of Him. On the other hand, Galileo believes that faith should not affect reason because the Bible’s role is only for salvation; scientific reasoning should rather bolster what the Bible says or cannot explain. In comparison, both texts try not to disregard the Bible – Hildegard writes from God’s word while Galileo bolsters the Bible – both philosophers wind up indirectly disregarding the Bible. Close attention to detail, courtesy of both philosophers, make their arguments of how faith indirectly or directly related to reason. Thus faith and reason do relate to one another, but the way in which the two correlate based on Hildegard and Galileo’s accounts of knowledge differ.