:''This article is about the Anglican theologian. For the author who wrote under this pseudonym, see
H. Richard Hornberger.''
'Richard Hooker' (March 1554 –
November 3,
1600) was an
Anglican priest and an influential
theologian.
[1] Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and inclusiveness considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism. He was the co-founder (with
Thomas Cranmer and
Matthew Parker) of Anglican theological thought.
Youth (1554-1581)
Details of Hooker's life come chiefly from
Izaak Walton’s biography of him. Hooker was born in the village of
Heavitree in
Exeter,
Devon sometime around
Easter Sunday.
[2] He attended Exeter Grammar School until 1569. Richard came from a good family, but one that was neither noble nor wealthy. His uncle John Hooker was a success and served as the chamberlain of
Chichester.
Hooker's uncle was able to obtain for Richard the help of another Devon native,
John Jewel,
bishop of Salisbury. The bishop saw to it that Richard was accepted to
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he became a fellow of the society in 1577.
[3] On
14 August 1579 Hooker was ordained a priest by
Edwin Sandys, then
bishop of London. Sandys made Hooker tutor his son Edwin, and Richard also taught George Cranmer, the great nephew of
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
Marriage (1581-1584)
In 1581, Hooker was appointed to preach at
Paul’s Cross. It was at this time, according to his biographer Walton, that Hooker made the "fatal mistake" of marrying his landlady’s daughter, Jean Churchman. As Walton put it:
In truth, the Churchman family belonged to the
puritan wing of the
Church of England and they must have been extremely obnoxious to the high church associates of Hooker. Never the less, Richard seems to have been a good husband who seems to have always treated his wife with respect. The couple would have six children together, only two of whom survived beyond the age of 21. Hooker named Jean executrix in his will.
Later years (1584-1600)
Hooker became rector of
St. Mary's Drayton Beauchamp in
Buckinghamshire in 1584.
[3]
The following year, Archbishop Edwin Sandys brought Hooker to the attention of Queen
Elizabeth I, who appointed him Master (i.e. rector) of the
Temple Church in
London. There, Hooker soon came into public conflict with
Walter Travers, a leading
Puritan and
Assistant at the Temple.
[5]
Hooker later served as Subdean of
Salisbury Cathedral and
Rector of St. Andrew's Boscomb in
Wiltshire.
[3] The influential character of Hooker's writings, particularly ''
Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity'', cannot be overestimated. Published in 1593, and subsequently, Hooker's eight volume work is primarily a treatise on Church-state relations, but it also deals comprehensively with issues of
biblical interpretation,
soteriology,
ethics, and
sanctification. Throughout the work, Hooker makes clear that
theology involves prayer and is concerned with ultimate issues, and that theology is relevant to the social mission of the church.
In 1595, Hooker became Rector of the parish of St. Mary's in
Bishopsbourne in
Kent. He died
3 November 1600 at Bishopsbourne.
[7]
Works
''Learned Discourse of Justification''
An important work was Hooker's sermon of 1585, ''A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and how the Foundation of Faith is Overthrown''. In this he defended his belief in the doctrine of
Justification by faith, but argued that even those who did not understand or accept this could be saved by God. This therefore included Roman Catholics, and emphasised Hooker's belief that Christians should concentrate more on what united them, rather than on what divided them. Sermons much like this one provoked a reaction that led to his greatest work. It seems Walter Travers publicly attacked Hooker's extention of salvation to
Roman Catholics and Hooker's dislike of
Calvinism. Hooker responded with his masterpiece, ''
Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie''.
''Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie''
Hooker's most well-known work, the first four books of which were published in 1594. The fifth was published in 1597, while the final four were published posthumously
[5] and may not all be his work. Hooker argued for a middle way (a "''Via Media''") between the positions of the Roman Catholics and the Puritans. In these books, it was argued that reason and tradition were important when interpreting the
Scriptures, and that it was important to recognise that the
Bible was written in a particular historical context, in response to specific situations: "Words must be taken according to the matter whereof they are uttered."
[Hooker, Richard, ''Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie'' (1593 - 1662) Book IV.11.7].
Title page of ''Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie''.
It is a massive work, and its principal subject is the proper governance of the churches ("polity"). The Puritans, then known in England as the "Geneva Church," for
John Calvin's influence on them, advocated the demotion of clergy and ecclesiasticism. Hooker attempted to work out which methods of organizing churches are best.
[5] What was at stake behind such a seemingly
theological argument was the position of the
Queen Elizabeth I as the
Supreme Governor of the Church. If doctrine were not to be settled by authorities, and if
Martin Luther's argument for the
priesthood of all believers were to be followed to its extreme and there were to be government by the Elect, then having the monarch as the governor of the church was intolerable. On the other side, if the monarch were appointed by God to be the governor of the church, then local parishes going their own ways on doctrine were similarly intolerable
Scholastic thought in a latitudinarian manner
Hooker worked from
Thomas Aquinas, but he adapted
scholastic thought in a
latitudinarian manner. He argued that church organization, like political organization, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. He wrote that minor doctrinal issues were not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. He argued there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, and good church hierarchies and bad ones, what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the traditions of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture. This was because authority had to be obeyed even if it were wrong and needed to be remedied by right reason and the
Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker's affirmed that the power and propriety of bishops need not be in every case absolute.
Legacy
King James I is quoted by
Izaak Walton, Hooker's biographer, as saying, "I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil."
[10] Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and inclusiveness considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as the thinking of
John Locke.
[5] Locke quotes Hooker numerous times in
The Second Treatise of Civil Government. In the Church of England he is celebrated with a
Lesser Festival on 3 November.
References
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition p.789 (March 13, 1997)
2. RICHARD HOOKER: PROPHET OF ANGLICANISM and SON OF EXETER
3. accessdate = 1 August 2007
4. accessdate = 1 August 2007
5. p.789
6. accessdate = 1 August 2007
7. | accessdate = 1 August 2007
8. p.789
9. p.789
10.
★ Walton, Izaac, ''The Life of Mr Rich. Hooker''. In ''Walton's Lives''. Edited by George Saintsbury and reprinted in Oxford World's Classics, 1927.
11. p.789
Further Reading
★ Faulkner, Robert K., Richard Hooker and the Politics of a Christian England (1981)
★ Grislis, Egil, Richard Hooker: A Selected Bibliography (1971)
★ Hooker, Richard, ''A Learned Discourse of Justification''. 1612.
★ Hooker, Richard, ''Works'' (Three volumes). Edited by John Keble, Oxford, 1836; Revised by R. W. Church and F. Paget, Oxford, 1888. Reprint by Burt Franklin, 1970 and by Via Media Publications.
★ Munz, Peter, The Place of Hooker in the History of Thought (1952, repr. 1971).
External links
★
Public Domain source
★
Hooker's works online
★
Biographical sketch
★
Exeter cathedral page
★
Hooker at the Temple Church
★
Richard Hooker in Dictionary of British Philosophers
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