Richard Hooker

Richard Hooker (25 March 1554 – 2 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian. He was one of the most important English theologians of the sixteenth century. His defense of the role of redeemed reason informed the theology of the seventeenth-century Caroline Divines and later provided many members of the Church of England with a theological method which combined the claims of revelation, reason and tradition. 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. Hooker was born in Exeter, Devon, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was ordained a priest in 1579. He served as Master of the Temple in London, where he came into conflict with the Puritan Walter Travers. Hooker's major work, *Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity*, was a defense of the Church of England against Puritan attacks. The first four books were published in 1593, and the fifth in 1597. He died in Bishopsbourne, Kent, in 1600. Hooker's emphasis on Scripture, reason, and tradition influenced the development of Anglicanism and political philosophy.