Richard Hooker
English bishop and Anglican Divine
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Through Reason
Scholars disagree regarding Hooker's relationship with what would later be called "Anglicanism" and the Reformed theological tradition. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the originator of the Anglican via media between Protestantism and Catholicism. However, a growing number of scholars have argued that he should be considered as being in the mainstream Reformed theology of his time and that he sought only to oppose the extremists (Puritans), rather than moving the Church of England away from Protestantism. The term "Anglican" is not found in his writings and indeed first appears early in the reign of Charles I as the Church of England moved towards an Arminian position doctrinally and a more "Catholic" look liturgically under the leadership of Archbishop William Laud.
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 (March) 1554. 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 Exeter.
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. In addition to his assistance securing admittance, Jewel also agreed to fund Hooker's education. On 14 August 1579 Hooker was ordained a priest by Edwin Sandys, then bishop of London. Sandys made Hooker tutor to his son Edwin, and Richard also taught George Cranmer, the great nephew of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. In 1580 he was deprived of his fellowship for "contentiousness" having campaigned for the losing candidate (John Rainolds, a lifelong friend who would become a leader of the Puritan party and participate in the Hampton Court Conference of 1604) in a contested election to the presidency of the college. However, he recovered it when Rainolds finally assumed the post".
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London and marriage (1581–1595)
In 1581, Hooker was appointed to preach at St Paul's Cross and he became a public figure, more so because his sermon offended the Puritans by diverging from their theories of predestination. Some ten years before Hooker arrived in London, the Puritans had produced an "Admonition to Parliament" together with "A view of Popish Abuses" and initiated a long debate which would last beyond the end of the century. John Whitgift (soon to become Archbishop of Canterbury) produced a reply, and Thomas Cartwright a reaction to the reply. Hooker was drawn into the debate through the influence of Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer.
He was also introduced to John Churchman, a distinguished London merchant who became Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company. It was at this time, according to his first biographer Walton, that Hooker made the "fatal mistake" of marrying his landlady's daughter, Jean Churchman. As Walton put it: "There is a wheel within a wheel; a secret sacred wheel of Providence (most visible in marriages), guided by His hand that allows not the race to the swift nor bread to the wise, nor good wives to good men: and He that can bring good out of evil (for mortals are blind to this reason) only knows why this blessing was denied to patient Job, to meek Moses, and to our as meek and patient Mr Hooker." However, Walton is described by Christopher Morris as an "unreliable gossip" who "generally moulded his subjects to fit a ready-made pattern", and both he and John Booty give the date of the marriage as 1588. Hooker seems to have lived on and off with the Churchmans until 1595 and, according to Booty, he "seems to have been well treated and considerably assisted by John Churchman and his wife".
Hooker became rector of St. Mary's, Drayton Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire, in 1584, but probably never lived there. The following year, he was appointed Master of the Temple in London by the Queen (possibly as a compromise candidate to those proposed by Lord Burleigh and Whitgift). There, Hooker soon came into public conflict with Walter Travers, a leading Puritan and Reader (lecturer) at the Temple, partly because of the sermon at Paul's Cross four years before, but mainly because Hooker argued that salvation was possible for some Roman Catholics. The controversy abruptly ended when Travers was silenced by the Archbishop in March 1586 and the Privy Council strongly supported the decision.
About this time, Hooker began to write his major work Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, a critique of the Puritans and their attacks on the Church of England and particularly the Book of Common Prayer.
In 1591, Hooker left the Temple and was presented to the living of St Andrew's, Boscombe, Wiltshire to support him while he wrote. He seems to have lived mainly in London but apparently did spend time in Salisbury where he was subdean of Salisbury Cathedral and made use of the Cathedral Library. The first four volumes of the major work were published in 1593, with a subsidy from Edwin Sandys, and apparently the last four were held back for further revision by the author.
Last years (1595–1600)
In 1595, Hooker became rector of the parishes of St. Mary the Virgin in Bishopsbourne and St. John the Baptist in Barham, both in Kent, and left London to continue his writing. He published the fifth book of the Laws in 1597. It is longer than the first four taken together. He died on 3 November 1600 at his rectory in Bishopsbourne and was buried in the chancel of the church, being survived by his wife and four daughters. His will includes the following provision: "Item, I give and bequeth three pounds of lawful English money towards the building and making of a newer and sufficient pulpitt in the p'sh of Bishopsbourne." The pulpit can still be seen in Bishopsbourne church, along with a statue of him. Subsequently, a monument was erected there by William Cowper in 1632 which described him as "judicious".
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." Hooker's emphasis on Scripture, reason, and tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as many political philosophers, including John Locke. Locke quotes Hooker numerous times in the Second Treatise of Civil Government and was greatly influenced by Hooker's natural-law ethics and his staunch defence of human reason. As Frederick Copleston notes, Hooker's moderation and civil style of argument were remarkable in the religious atmosphere of his time. In the Church of England he is celebrated with a lesser festival on 3 November and the same day is also observed in the calendars of other parts of the Anglican Communion.