tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post1064072273645124766..comments2024-03-24T18:04:53.732-05:00Comments on International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies: O virtus SapientieUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-69862629204727668022021-05-29T22:33:08.531-05:002021-05-29T22:33:08.531-05:00It is wonderful to see so much teaching from so lo...It is wonderful to see so much teaching from so long ago come to support us in this journey towards the Divine, with the guidance of Hildegard de Bingen, since the sec. XII.<br />cleide a m denardihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17054676534736990212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-64397813528400383232020-09-18T22:37:27.879-05:002020-09-18T22:37:27.879-05:00Gabriel, I appreciate your thoughts on this, becau...Gabriel, I appreciate your thoughts on this, because I really wrestled with that first line for a long time. I agree with you that "power" is probably the better literal translation, and in my earlier drafts on this, I had the opening line as, "O Wisdom's pow'r" (you have to elide the second syllable of "power" to fit the meter). But ultimately I decided to go with "energy" because it allows us to see the potential connection (for us, if not for Hildegard in her own historical context) between Hildegard's ideas of <i>virtus</i> and Orthodox ideas about the divine <i>energeia</i>. (And frankly, I think the poetry is better, too.)Nathaniel M. Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01835009706332559978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-19795168588108489252020-09-18T01:29:31.970-05:002020-09-18T01:29:31.970-05:00She would have used vis otherwise because it has m...She would have used vis otherwise because it has meaning for "energy" and virtus has no translation for "energy". It elevates the "power" to a degree of excellency worthy of God's omnipotent Divine Will that "vis" does not have when referring to power or force. Hildegard had already created the images to illustrate the emanation of His virtus (not his vis) on "que circuiens circuisti,<br />comprehendendo omnia".gabrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417515385331414956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-20367166189262173472020-09-18T01:14:35.488-05:002020-09-18T01:14:35.488-05:00Virtus belongs to Sapientie in that case. And it r...Virtus belongs to Sapientie in that case. And it refers to God's Wisdom. God's Wisdom is the Word, the Word is the Logos, which is God's reason and inteligence. God acts by willing, willing is an act of the intellect. By willing, God acts upon His creation with His omnipotence or power. It's the omnipotent creative power of the Divine Wisdom. The manifestation of His power upon creatures is His grace. Power is the force itself that moves everything. Power works just fine in the context because it refers to the invisible force of God's Spirit. By referring to it as energy, it loses the focus on God's omnipotence and the image is more focused on the "flow". And to me, that doesn't make justice to the divine christian aspect of the song.gabrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417515385331414956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-60435749477956084842020-09-18T01:01:59.290-05:002020-09-18T01:01:59.290-05:00Thanks for the translation. I believe the friend a...Thanks for the translation. I believe the friend above didn't actually refer to "virtus" as the moral concept but actually when mentioning theology, he was referring to the metaphysical meaning of "virtus". You did not translate virtus right, rather, you changed the word. Energy is not the appropriate translation of "virtus" from a catholic metaphysical perspective. Hildegard choses to use virtus for a reason. She uses virtus to refer to God's omnipotence and how that power acts according to His omnipresence. The most appropriate translation would be power, strength or even force.<br />God's creation is a never-ending act of love. That is His absolute power that is acting upon creation through his Will. And we never call it "energy".From the Catholic theological perspective, it's actually pretty weird and it actually reminds of new age or pagan spirituality.<br />gabrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417515385331414956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-35353687920004497042017-06-27T12:05:52.609-05:002017-06-27T12:05:52.609-05:00While I respect the sincerity of your conviction, ...While I respect the sincerity of your conviction, it's simply not true that "virtus" <i>only</i> refers to the moral concept of virtue. Rather, the Latin term has a much broader range of meanings -- the <i>Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources</i> lists 12 different shades of meaning, only one (or two) of which is specifically moral virtue (see <a href="http://logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html#virtus" rel="nofollow">http://logeion.uchicago.edu/index.html#virtus</a>). The term (like its Greek counterpart, <i>arete</i>) originates in the physical world, meaning both physical strength and the courage and excellence shown by the strong in war. In philosophical contexts, it can also often mean "potency" or "power," in line with the Greek <i>dynamis</i> (the DMBLS quotes Ockham, Quodlibetal 597: "non minoris efficacie est potencia Dei absoluta super quamcumque creaturam quam <b>virtus</b> activa creata respectu sui effectus" -- "God's absolute power (potencia) over all creation is of no less efficacy than his active, creative power (virtus) with respect to its effect.")<br /><br />Moreover, one must translate the term within the full context of Hildegard's thought, in which <i>virtus</i> does indeed refer to emanations of God's power into the world. For her, the Virtues are not moral abstractions, but embodiments of that power streaming forth; rather than speaking of God's grace as that power, she speaks of his <i>virtus</i>.Nathaniel M. Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01835009706332559978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-5332224630267714002017-06-26T13:43:29.139-05:002017-06-26T13:43:29.139-05:00"Energy" is the worst possible translati..."Energy" is the worst possible translation for "virtus" in Hildegard's context.<br />Virtus is a constant and well-know subject of medieval theological treatises and has, obviously and for the same reason, a catholic theological meaning.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00711803327013520748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2986721323940983194.post-54626984866786565522016-11-04T11:41:17.853-05:002016-11-04T11:41:17.853-05:00thanks for postthanks for postAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14753156555223561443noreply@blogger.com