Richard Hooker (March 1554 - November 3, 1600) was an influential Anglican theologian. He is arguably the co-founder (with Thomas Cranmer) of Anglican theological thought. March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Events February 12 - After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband. ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... // Events January January 1 - Scotland adopts January 1st as being New Years Day February February 17 - Giordano Bruno burned at the stake for heresy July July 2 - Battle of Nieuwpoort: Dutch forces under Maurice of Nassau defeat Spanish forces under Archduke Albert in a battle on the coastal dunes. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489 - March 21, 1556) was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. Born in 1489 at Nottingham, Cranmer was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge and became a priest following the death of his first wife. ...

Hooker was born in Exeter, Devon, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he became a fellow in 1577. In 1584 he got married, resigned from his college position, and became rector of Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire. In 1585, he was appointed Master (Rector) of the Temple Church in London, and soon came into conflict with Walter Travers, a leading Puritan and Assistant (Reader) at the Temple. Nonetheless, the two men remained on friendly personal terms. A number of other places have taken their names from Exeter The city of Exeter is the county town of Devon, in England, UK. It is located at 50° 43 25 N, 3° 31 39 W. In the 2001 census its population was recorded at 111,066. ... Devon is a county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... College name Corpus Christi College Named after Corpus Christi, Body of Christ Established 1517 Sister College Corpus Christi College President Sir Tim Lankester JCR President David Holtam Undergraduates 239 Graduates 126 Homepage Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... 1584 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Drayton Beauchamp is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. ... Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in South East England. ... 1585 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. ... The word rector (ruler, from the Latin regere) has a number of different meanings. ... The Temple Church. ... Walter Travers (died 1635) was a Puritan theologian. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ...

In 1592 Hooker became a canon at Salisbury Cathedral and Rector of the parish of Boscombe in Wiltshire. In 1595 he became Rector of the parish of Bishopsbourne in Kent. Events January 30 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. ... Salisbury Cathedral in the early morning light. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Events January 30 - William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet is performed for the first time. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ...

Hooker's most well-known work is Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, the first four books of which were published in 1594. The fifth was published in 1597, while the final four were published posthumously. This argued for a middle way (a "Via Media") between the positions of the Roman Catholics and the Puritans. Hooker argued that reason and experience (as well as tradition) were important when interpreting the Scriptures, and argued 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." (Lawes IV.11.7). Jump to: navigation, search Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity was a defense of the practices and beliefs of the Anglican Church against the Puritans, written by Richard Hooker in 1593. ... Events February 27 - Henry IV is crowned King of France at Rheims. ... Events 17 January - A court case in Guildford recorded evidence that a certain plot of land was used for playing “kreckett” (i. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. ...

It is a massive work, and its principle subject is the proper governance of the churches ("polity"). Inasmuch as the Puritains, then known as the "Geneva Church," for John Calvin's reforms, were advocating most essentially the demotion of clergy and ecclesiasticism, Hooker attempts to work out which methods of organizing churches are best. What was at stake behind such a seemingly theological argument was the position of the Queen as the head 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 head of the church was intolerable. On the other side, if the monarch were appointed by God to be the head of the church, then local parishes going their own ways on doctrine were similarly intolerable. Hooker worked from Thomas Aquinas, but he adapted scholastic thought in a latitudinarian way. He argued that church organization, like political organization, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. Minor doctrinal issues were, he said, not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. Thus, there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, that what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the practice of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture, for authority had to be obeyed, even if it was wrong, but it could be remedied by right reason and the Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker's affirmation of the power and propriety of bishops was not absolute, and he comes close to arguing for the ability of the governed to take back authority. He thus avoided some of the simplistic extremes being pursued by High Church thinkers. John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a prominent Christian theologian during the Protestant Reformation and is the namesake of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism. ... Jump to: navigation, search Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ... The priesthood of all believers is a Protestant doctrine founded on the First Epistle of Peter, 2:9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into... Thomas Aquinas (1225 – March 7, 1274) was an Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition. ... Scholastic redirects here. ... Latitudinarian was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th century British theologians who believed in conforming to official Church of England practices but who felt that matters of doctrine, liturgical practice, and ecclesiastical organization were of relatively little importance. ... High Church is a term that may now be used in speaking of viewpoints within a number of denominations of Protestant Christianity in general, but it is one which has traditionally been employed in Churches associated with the Anglican tradition in particular. ...

Another important work was Hooker's sermon, A Learned discourse of Justification. In this he defended his belief in the Protestant 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. Sola fide (by faith alone), also historically known as the justification of faith, is a doctrine held by some Protestant denominations of Christianity, which asserts that it is on the basis of their faith that believers are forgiven their transgressions of the Law of God, rather than on the basis...

Hooker’s emphases on reason, tolerance and inclusiveness considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism, as well as the thinking of John Locke. John Locke John Locke (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was a 17th-century English philosopher concerned primarily with society and epistemology. ...

External links

• The life and works of Richard Hooker
• Biographical sketch
• Exeter cathedral page
• Hooker at the Temple Church