Hilda of Whitby

by Ray Simpson

Hilda was born into a pagan, Anglo-Saxon family in the province of Deira (land to the north of the Humber) in 614, and her early life was to witness much of the brutality and darkness for which that period has become most famous. Her own father was poisoned in the continuing battle for power between ruling claimants. Her first encounter with Christianity happens after her uncle Edwin wins power, encountering a vision of Christ which leads to the family's baptism. But victory is short term and Hilda is forced into exile in the Christian kingdom of the East Angles, holding on to her newfound faith while others cast it aside. Hilda returns north after power passes to the Christian ruler Oswald, who now sets out to reconvert the people of the area, inviting Aidan of Ireland to lead the work. Hilda had only known Christianity with Roman roots. She now comes into direct contact with Celtic Christianity for the first time and discovers a stark difference in terms of lifestyle, approaches to mission, models of church and the requirements of soul friends to assist personal faith development. She was planning to become a nun and depart overseas but Aidan convinces Hilda to stay and sets her on the path of her life's work of pioneering monasteries and establishing learning for men and women. The Celtic church has no qualms over women leadership, unlike the Roman church. Having set the scene, Ray goes on to unfold the story of Hilda's work at Hartlepool and Whitby, drawing out key lessons for our own age from her life, work and legacy, and through questions for reflection, encourages personal application. Just before Hilda's birth, Hilda's mother had a vision of light cast across Britain from a necklace - a vision that St Bede, writing in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed 731AD), regarded as being fulfilled through Hilda. This light Ray Simpson now projects into our own age. Published to coincide with the 1400th anniversary of the birth of Hilda.

150 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2014

About the author

Ray Simpson is Founding Guardian of the international Community of Aidan and Hilda and the author of forty books on Celtic spirituality and other subjects.

Before that he was invited to plant a Fresh Expression at Bowthorpe, Norwich: 'One Family of Christians for one New Neighbourhood' sponsored by six denominations. He has linked early Celtic monastic villages with villages of God inspired by emerging new monastic churches.

He owns a house on UK's Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where the Community of Aidan and Hilda has its Retreat House, The Open Gate and Celtic Library, but is mainly based on the nearby mainland at Berwick-Upon-Tweed.


His big project is to make 'The Way' accessible to
all peoples through daily emails (enrol on www.waymarksoflife.com) and a year's app is being crowd funded.

Reviews

[Peter Holford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm intrinsically interested in both Celtic expressions of Christianity and the town of Whitby which I have visited many times, so this book is bound to be a winner for me. Also, I met the author several times when we were staying at the Community of Aidan and Hilda on Holy Island in 2013.

This was enjoyable Sunday reading for me. Highlights included revisiting Bede's story of the sparrow flight (which I had read while studying Old English as an undergraduate), the ideas around praying for (and spiritually cleansing) a place, and exile. Interesting also to consider the Celtic practice of listening to people's stories and beliefs before asking them if they would like to hear one's own - a kind of 'interfaith dialogue' is what we might call this today.

The consideration of the place of the monasteries in Britain in this era was interesting, especially concerning the place of education, given that I spend so much of my life in universities now. One quote I appreciated was as follows: 'Something was lost, as well as gained, when universities were removed from the monasteries. The "paralysis of analysis" and contempt for the non-intellectual have no place in true learning, which combines head, heart and hands, each contributing as they can.' p. 65. This resonates for me.

Another concept that keeps cropping up in my reading in this area is the exhortation to embark on a journey away from fragmentation towards wholeness. We live in a deeply fragmented culture and, despite the dangerous and bloodthirsty times in which Hilda lived, they had an individual coherence and collective togetherness which I think is enviable.

I enjoyed reading Ray Simpson's vision for redeeming the image of the town of Whitby itself in the final chapter, 'Fruits, vampires and victory'. It was a timely reminder of my own conversations with Ray about the possibility of expanding the presence of the Community of Aidan and Hilda in that town.

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is filled with supposition, surmise and clumsy attempts to make theories fit in with an overwhelming absence of evidence.
It has hard to find a page that does not contain words such as maybe/ perhaps/ possibly/ it could be etc.
Then the author strikes a new low when he identifies the author of Paradise Lost / Regained as Dante.
David Adam has produced excellent explorations of the lives of Celtic Saints applying these lives to life today. Sadly Mr Simpson is no David Adam.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great intro to Hilda of Whitby. Well written. It also touches on Aidan and Caidmon as well. i found these lives to be personally inspiring, leading toward a greater to love all people equally and not differentiating based on their position or status.

[Alison Horn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 2 1/2 star book for me. It had some really lovely passages and reflections, but too much supposition for my liking.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative if uneven guide to the life and legacy of Hilda of Whitby. When so little is known about Hilda any biography will require some speculation, but I feel Simpson speculates too much here. Otherwise it's a readable introduction to the subject with lots of references to follow up. The book is let down by a chapter that equates womanhood with motherhood (couldn't a woman's perspective on Hilda have been included?) and a silly section on Goths at the end. If anything needs exorcising from modern Whitby it's racism, not the Dracula Experience.

[Allan Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed with this book, as the subtitle - 'A spirituality for now' - is very misleading. If it had been called 'Hilda of Whitby - her life and times' I would have given it 4 stars, as it is a good history of Christianity in northern England in the 7th century.
But there is very little about Hilda's spirituality itself, and what there is is quite speculative, with several points introduced by "most probably". We hear more about those who influenced her, such as Aidan, and it is assumed that Hilda had similar views; and about those she herself (probably) influenced, such as Wilfrid and Caedmon, and it is assumed that their views reflected hers. The simple truth is we don't know enough.
It nearly had 2 stars, but for one area that we do know, as it was described by Bede: that she remained faithful even when suffering illness for the last 6 years of her life, encouraging others to thank God even in such times.

[Fubzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hagiography.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the structure of this book. The historical information is enhanced by biblical texts and reflections .