ABSTRACT
Hildegard of Bingen’s first homily on John 3:1-15, the story of Nicodemus, explains the role of heaven in neo-platonic terms as the human soul’s place of origin and the site of its return. Hildegard explains the phrase ‘filius hominis qui est in celo’ to mean that humans receive souls from heaven and that souls return to heaven through the performance of good works, because they are members of the Son of God’s body.1 Within this theological framework of procession and return, Hildegard depicts the journey of return with architectural imagery: humans construct their repentance and restoration as they participate in building the heavenly city – an echo of Psalm 121(2):3, ‘Hierusalem quae aedificaris ut civitas cuius participatio eius simul.’
