ABSTRACT
The Scivias text can best be described as an early theological summa executed in the form of a series of visions, in which the author claims to have been a conduit for the word of God. Hildegard's representation of the Virgin Mary specifically in Scivias has attracted some scholarly attention which has inadvertently served to isolate the text by failing to locate Hildegard's interpretation alongside comparable contemporary commentary. This chapter traces Hildegard's interpretation and appropriation of Luke 1:26–8, it seeks to shed light on the ways in which she entwines the typological resonances of the creation and the Annunciation with the narrative of her own textual legacy and monastic vocation. It uses the echoes of Luke to suggest the possibility of a more holistic understanding of the origins and purposes of the Scivias text; one which acknowledges both its exegetical and autobiographical aspects, and which challenges some prominent modern conceptions of medieval gender and identity.
