Hildegard as a Mystic and her Place in the Christian Thought (PhD. Dissertation)

Mysticism, visions, feminism, music, herbal medicine…Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) have been identified with these notions. Because she has influenced Christianity until today with her extraordinary visions and various works about God, man, cosmology, music, botany and anatomy. In this study it will be evaluated the life of Hildegard who is one of the remarkable mystics in Christian mysticism history and her effect to Christian mysticism. Studies on the Christian mysticism is very limited in our country. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to Christian mysticism and to provide a source for the researchers who work on this field. This thesis, Hildegard as a Mystic and her Place in the Christian Thought(PhD. Dissertation, Sakarya University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy and Religious Sciences, Sakarya, Turkey, 2019), consists of three chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to mysticism and the Christian mysticism. In this chapter is discussed the basic dynamics of Christian mysticism. Christianity has undergone a mystical transformation with Paul, who intended to move away from Judaism's emphasis on law. This mystical formation began to gain strength with elements such as saint and martyrdom from the 2nd century onwards. In the later period, Christianity has become even more spiritual structure with desert and monastic life. In the first chapter, it is emphasized that Christian mysticism is influenced by Jewish mysticism and Greek tradition and Mystery religions. Therefore, we think that Christian mysticism impressed by the internal dynamics like Paul and the New Testament texts and the external dynamics mentioned above. In this chapter, it is emphasized that Christian mystics usually prefer the word "love" which is a mystical expression when speaking about Jesus. Also, they concentrate on contemplation and evaluate rituals like sacraments in such a manner that mystical. At the end of this chapter, it is stated that Christian mystics usually prefer the word "love" when speaking about Jesus which is a mystical expression. Also, they concentrate on contemplation and evaluation of rituals like sacraments in a mystical manner; therefore we can say that they have a different understanding of religion than from institutional Christianity. In the second chapter, it is evaluated the relationship between the Church and mysticism and the socio-cultural background of the period influenced her thoughts. We can say that Christian Mysticism has begun to mature since the Middle Ages; even though Christianity tended to mysticism