Title: Richard Hooker and the Authority of Scripture, Tradition and Reason: Reformed Theologian of the Church of England?
Abstract: Nigel Atkinson, Richard Hooker and the Authority of Scripture, Tradition and reason: Reformed Theologian of the Church of England? Carlisle, Paternoster Press, 1997, pp. xxi + 138, pb. £11.99, ISBN: 0853648018Richard Hooker has traditionally been viewed as the great exponent of the Anglican via media. His sixteenth-century Ecclesiastical Polity showed that the Church possessed 'a breadth of view, a devotion to truth wherever found, and a faith in right reason which sharply distinguishe[ed] her from Puritanism on the one side and Romanism on the other'. This view, however, is open to question. The work of W. J. Torance Kirby has shown that the supposed historic chain of Anglican succession is not as continuous as it has formerly been portrayed. A sixteenth-century churchman would not have possessed any conception of a distinctive Anglicanism. Instead he would have stressed his close relationship with the reformed churches of the continent, and the major chasm which existed between the English Church and that of the popish antichrist. Within his book Atkinson has sought to demonstrate that Hooker was not an Anglican, but a reformed Protestant theologian. He compares Hooker's celebrated Anglican usage of 'reason, tradition and Scripture' with that of Calvin and Luther, and demonstrates a remarkable similarity of belief. Consequently Atkinson insists that the purpose of Hooker's Polity was not to set the English Church apart from the continental Protestants, but to demonstrate to her critics that she was part of a broadly based Protestant theology. Hooker had no quarrel with Calvinism, but was fiercely opposed to those puritans who wished to extend its teachings further. This group, whom Atkinson refers to as the disciplinarians, were not content with possessing purity of doctrine, but also sought to further the cause of righteousness through a complete reform of Church government. The Polity was designed to vindicate the English Church's orthodoxy of belief whilst exposing the untenable nature of the strict disciplinarian adherence to sola scriptura.This presentation of Hooker as a mainstream Protestant is convincingly argued by Atkinson, and is certainly supported by the enthusiasm early seventeenth-century Calvinist conformists, such as Ussher and Sanderson, displayed towards it. Atkinson's thesis does, however, suffer from its failure to contrast the Polity with any other reformed writings than those of Luther and Calvin. Hooker was only ten years old when Calvin died, and Luther had died before he was even born. Late sixteenth-century Calvinism and Lutheranism owed a great debt to their founders, but were not necessarily synonymous with the teachings contained within their works. Atkinson also fails, due to his stress on general reformed principles, to acknowledge sufficiently the many differences between these two Protestant groupings. Whilst Hooker has been carefully positioned in his 'deep context' amongst the leading early figures of the Reformation, there has been a wholesale neglect of his own contemporaries. Nevertheless, whilst any comparison would be strengthened by being undertaken in a much more broadly based context. Atkinson's usage of these two great reformers still provides an excellent initial marker to examine Hooker against.Since Atkinson is resolved to remove the Polity from the grasps of Anglo-Catholics it is not unexpected that he carefully considers Hooker's belief regarding episcopacy. His thesis forcefully stresses that the Polity refrained from making episcopacy mandatory, although it remained the apostolic form of government which best suited the English Church. Since the English Church had apparently distanced herself from the continental reformed Churches through the retention of pre-Reformation episcopal government, it was important for Hooker to show that he did not adhere to any theological premises which made it the mark of a true Church. When Atkinson describes how Hooker believed episcopacy to enjoy a divine origin he clearly means divine approbation. …
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 29
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot