HOOKER, Richard

(1554-1600)

Richard Hooker was a scholar and theologian of considerable ability whose principal work is the most eloquent defense of the Church of England of its time as well as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan prose. Hooker was born in or near the city of Exeter, where he attended grammar school and ac­quired an early reputation as a capable student. Possibly through his uncle s influence, he came to the attention of John Jewel, bishop of Salisbury and author of the Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae (Apology for the Church of England), who sponsored Hooker s studies at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1568 to 1571. His time at Oxford brought Hooker into contact with a diversity of theological backgrounds, but he would follow his principal influences in the paths of conservative ecclesiastical reform. Izaak Walton, Hooker s early bi­ographer, gives us the picture of a gifted scholar with retiring manners and a deep love of the contemplative life. His personal shyness notwithstanding, he was fully capable of intelligently and vigorously defending his work and beliefs when necessary.

In 1581 Hooker took holy orders and preached his first sermon at St. Paul's Cross in London, lodging with a prosperous merchant, John Churchman, whose daughter he would marry seven years later. In 1585 Hooker was given a vicariate in Drayton-Beauchamp, but after three months he was appointed master of the Temple Church in London s center of legal studies. The post embroiled him in a public dispute over doctrinal issues of the Anglican church with Walter Trav­ers, the assistant master of the Temple Church and a principal exponent of English Puritanism. Hooker, critical of Puritanism as dangerous to civil and ecclesiastical order, met sharp opposition from Travers, particularly on his in­terpretation of predestination and human will. In 1586 Travers was silenced by the archbishop of Canterbury, but continued his criticism of Hooker in his appeal to the Privy Council, which circulated in print that same year. Hooker s own reply was not published until 1612. It is worth noting that in spite of their differences, Hooker and Travers avoided the bitter exchange of invective com­mon to polemical controversy at the time.

It may have been this dispute, and certainly the Anglican/Puritan tensions that engendered it, that prompted Hooker to undertake his landmark work, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. A highly articulate appeal to civil law, philosophy, and theology, the book defends the Anglican administrative structure and use of ceremony against Puritan criticism, which regarded such conventions as emu­lating too closely the errors of Roman Catholicism. Central to Hooker s argu­ment is his belief in the ability of human reason to develop certain laws useful to ecclesiastical and civil order without sole reliance on scriptural authority, a point deeply inimical to the Puritan stance. Hooker saw five of the book's eight volumes into print before his death in 1600, continuously working throughout subsequent ecclesiastical appointments at Boscombe (1593) and Bishopsbourne (1595). The remaining three volumes were published between 1648 and 1662 and continue to generate debate about their textual integrity and authenticity. Theological issues aside, Hooker s book was praised in its own time for its clarity and stylistic elegance. His other surviving works, including sermons, correspondence, and some fragmentary writings, were also published posthu­mously.

Bibliography

S. Archer, Richard Hooker, 1983.

R. K. Faulkner, Richard Hooker and the Politics ofa Christian England, 1981.

Michael J. Medwick