Ava, writing in the mid-twelfth century, composed five poems in German and so became the first woman to author a literary work in a European vernacular. The fruit of her spiritual reading, meditation, and conversation with her sons, the poems recount how God acts to save humankind. They speak of John the Baptist, the person and work of Jesus, the Son of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the coming of Antichrist, and the Last Judgment. Ava was familiar with biblical accounts, sermons, and commentaries and shaped them into a new and personal poetic whole. Book jacket.