OPTION ONE--CREATIVE WRITING: This is based on the first four pages of Chapter 12, "Christianity
and the Medieval Mind."
Imagine Hildegard and Pope Innocent meet in Heaven. They discuss their views on the nature of humankind and how, during their lifetimes, they conveyed those ideas to people. Write a dialogue in which they compare and contrast their views and give examples of things they experienced, wrote, and said. Pope Innocent: Hi, nice to meet you!
Hildegard: Nice to meet you too! Where are you coming from?
Pope Innocent: I am one of Christendom's most influential popes, and under my leadership, "the papacy emerged as the most powerful political institution in Western Europe". I am a very significant person! I used my authority to influence nonreligious rulers, and I intervened in the political, financial, and personal affairs of heads of state most of the time. What did you do?
Hildegard: I was the leading mystic of the twelfth century. I entered a Benedictine convent at the age of eight and became its abbess later on. I am a scholar of both Latin and German, and I used my knowledge to write three, and I wrote three tracts on different topics, one of them being science. I was one of the first Christian mystics, and I produced works on topics like the nature of the Universe, the meaning of Scripture, and the destiny of the Christian soul.
Pope Innocent: That's right, I knew I heard about you somewhere! The Church confirmed the divine source of your visions, and we accepted your prophetic powers too!
Hildegard: Yes, I had a lot to say on certain topics if you couldn't tell already. Most of my visions were in K...
