Showing results by author "Richard Hooker" in All Categories

In this fifth volume of a multi-year translation project by the Davenant Institute, we present key sections from Book V of Hooker’s "Laws," in which Hooker thoroughly yet succinctly lays out the Reformed yet catholic perspective on both Christology and the sacraments. Long regarded as both the theological and rhetorical high point of the "Laws," these chapters provide a survey of the church’s historic teaching on the person of Christ and our union with him, as well as an irenic defense of Reformed distinctives over against the Catholic, Lutheran, and anti-sacramental alternatives.

In his profound exploration of the English Church, Richard Hooker embarks on a quest to uncover the foundations of Church laws and governance. His seminal work, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, emerges as a formidable response to the Puritan belief that all matters of religious worship, discipline, and governance are dictated solely by Holy Scripture. Hooker challenges this notion, asserting that understanding the Divine order requires not just the written word of God, but also an examination of moral relationships, historical contexts, and societal institutions. He emphasizes the essential ...

Richard Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity is one of the great landmarks of Protestant theological literature, and indeed of English literature generally, but is scarcely read today on account of its difficult and archaic style. The time has come to translate it into modern English so that Hooker may teach a new generation of churchmen and Christian leaders about law, reason, Scripture, church, and politics.

In this thought-provoking exploration, Richard Hooker delves into the foundational aspects of the English Church, tackling the pivotal question What underpins Church laws and governance? His monumental work, ‘The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,’ emerges as a response to the prevailing Puritan system, which posited that only the unchanging rules laid out in Holy Scripture could govern matters of worship, discipline, and authority. Hooker challenges this notion by asserting that to truly understand Divine order, we must consider not only the scriptures but also the moral relations, historical...