In-person Saturday May 30th, 1-3PM
In partnership with the Erie Art Museum
and yes, downtown, at the Art Museum, 20 E 5th St, Erie, PA 16507

We’ll begin at 1PM. Minji’s presentation will be followed by an informal discussion and refreshments.

This talk draws on Dr. Minji Lee’s recent publication, The Medieval Womb: Hildegard of Bingen's Views on the Female Reproductive Body.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), a German Benedictine nun, believed that human beings possess the power to heal themselves in body, mind, and soul as being created by God and inheriting the divine power.

Hildegard of Bingen used the concept of viriditas, the greening power, to explain human health and reproduction as analogous to the vitality by which trees and plants draw water and nutrients from the earth to produce leaves and flowers.

Hildegard particularly emphasized herbs as essential sources of healing and treatment for women's ailments, viewing the female body's regenerative capacity as an expression of this greening power.

Dr Lee will  offer a historical approach to understanding the medieval construction of women's bodies as positive and powerful through the framework of herbal medicine and viriditas.

Dr. Minji Lee is an Assistant Professor in Religion and the Medical Humanities Program at Montclair State University.

She specializes in the study of medicine in relation to cultural practices and belief systems - including women's health, reproductive issues, and comparative analysis of alternative medicine in Korea and the West.

Her book is hot off the press!

Details: The fee for this workshop reflects museum entrance.

We also ask that participants mark their attendance with donations in the memory of, and honor of, Ashton Clatterbuck.

Ash was a young trans person from PA who took his own life in 2024. The Ashton Myles Clatterbuck Memorial Fund is an ongoing tribute to his commitment to social justice.