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Richard Hooker: Beyond Certainty

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Richard Hooker: Beyond Certainty Richard Hooker: Beyond Certainty. Andrea Russell, LLB BA MA. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2009 Abstract of Thesis Richard Hooker: Beyond Certainty Andrea Russell This thesis is submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2009. For over four hundred years Richard Hooker has been firmly attached to the Church of England and his life and writings used to promote and preserve that institution’s self-understanding. Consensus as to his theological beliefs and ecclesiastical loyalties has, however, never been reached – even though each generation of scholars has claimed to discover the ‘real’ Richard Hooker. In spite of the differing, and often conflicting interpretations, there have been several constants – beliefs about Hooker and his work that have remained virtually unchallenged throughout the centuries. The aim of this thesis has been to examine three of those aspects and in so doing ascertain whether their truth is more assumed than proven. The first of these assumptions is the fundamental belief that Hooker is attached securely to the English Church and that their identities are so interwoven that to speak of one is to speak of the other. The second is that Hooker’s prose – his unique writing style and powerful rhetoric – can be ignored in the process of determining his theology. And thirdly, the widely-held belief that, as the ‘champion of reason’, Hooker’s faith is essentially rational and that God is perceived and experienced primarily through the intellect. Challenging the truth of each of these statements leads to an uncertainty about Hooker that, rather than negating scholarship, allows research to be liberated from the dominance of categorisation. Such a change would acknowledge that Hooker’s theology transcends Anglican studies and would allow his radical thinking to reach a wider audience. Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction. 1 Chapter One Richard Hooker: defender, apologist and champion of the Church? 13 Chapter Two Hooker’s style and rhetoric. 86 Chapter Three Hooker and Certainty. 138 Conclusion. 238 Bibliography. 254 Acknowledgments. To my supervisors, Alan Ford and Karen Kilby, for their unending support both academically and personally, I can only say thankyou. I have been extremely grateful for all your encouragement, advice and book loans! It has been a privilege to work with you both and great fun. To my family – John, Megan and Bethany – a huge thankyou for your love and support and for (reluctantly!) allowing Hooker a seat at our table. Thankyou John for the proof reading…I know it wasn’t fun. To my friends and family who have encouraged me in all manner of ways – generously and constantly – thankyou. I could not have done this without you. In true Hooker style the dedication of this thesis will look to the past, the present and the future. It is, therefore, dedicated: — to the memory of my mum. May she rest in peace and rise in glory. — to my wonderful daughters, Megan and Bethany. Thanks, girls, for reminding me that God is good and life is fun. — to Phil and to sharing our future ministries. An Anglican and a Presbyterian – Hooker would be amazed! Abbreviations Answer: Master Hookers Answer to the Supplication that Master Travers made to the Counsell’, Folger V.227-257. Archbishops Judgment: The Archbishops Judgment of these Controversies, Folger V.288. Certaintie: A Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect, Folger V.69-82. Christian Letter: A Christian Letter of Certaine English Protestantes, Folger IV. 1-79. The Folger edition of the Christian Letter includes both the letter, which was written anonymously and also Hooker’s autograph notes upon the same. DF: The Dublin Fragments, Folger IV.99-167. Folger: The Folger Edition of the Works of Richard Hooker, W.S. Hill, (ed.), VII volumes, (I-V, Cambridge, Mass., 1977-90; VI, Binghamton, NY, 1993; VII, Tempe Az., 1998). Institutes: John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion J.T.McNeill (ed.), (Philadelphia, 1960). Jude 1: The First Sermon Upon Part of St. Judes Epistle, Folger V.13-35. Jude 2: The Second Sermon Upon Part of St. Judes Epistle, Folger V.36-57. Justification: A Learned Discourse of Justification, Workes, and How the Foundation of Faith is Overthrowne, Folger V.83-169. Lawes: Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity, Folger I, II, III. Supplication: ‘A Supplication made to the Privy Counsel by Master Walter Travers’, Folger V.189-210. Notes on the text. All quotations from the Folger edition are referenced firstly by the volume number and secondly the page number Introduction. In the grounds of Exeter Cathedral, in the north part of the Close, stands a statue of Richard Hooker. Carved from white marble, it depicts the Anglican divine regally seated, his legs crossed, with one foot resting upon a stool. On his lap lays a huge tome, (undoubtedly The Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity) its pages open and the index finger of his right hand pointing to the words written there. At his feet lie two further volumes, nestled within the drapes of his gown. Hooker himself is not reading, but rather is looking outwards – as if addressing those around him – the confident teacher, engaging with those gathered to learn. The fact that this statue was only erected in 1907, some three-hundred years after Hooker’s death, is as much an accolade to the Oxford Movement’s championing of Hooker as it is to the great man himself. By the turn of the twentieth century Hooker’s identity as the quintessential Anglican was universally endorsed. Not only did he point back to Anglicanism’s origins, but his iconic status provided the link with this distinctive ecclesiastical identity across the centuries, as well as providing a pattern for the future. Since the Reformation, this was how the English Church had been, still was and ever shall be, if it was to remain true to its origins. This view of Hooker, as the champion of the via media, the articulator of the English Church‘s distinctive positioning of itself between Geneva and Rome, and the preserver of true sacramental worship and Episcopal authority, was creatively promoted by the Oxford Movement in the first half of the nineteenth century. Its leaders – John Keble, John Newman and Edward Pusey, sought to restore the High Church ideals of the seventeenth century against what they perceived to be the attack 1 of liberalism. They reiterated that the Church of England was a divine institution, and underlined the belief in Apostolic Succession and the importance of the Book of Common Prayer both doctrinally and ceremonially. They fostered a high esteem for the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, together with the ceremonial aspects of Church life. Their campaign was to restore a higher standard of worship, sacramentally focussed and built upon a High-Church understanding of the community’s life and purpose. Richard Hooker played a vital role in the Movement’s life. Here was a man, poised at the very edge of the seventeenth century, as the English Church faced attacks from those who sought to reform it further and bring it into line with Continental doctrine and discipline. A forerunner of Laud, Hooker was portrayed as the man who stood against the assault and kept the Church on track. It was his Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity that provided an anchor for those who would come after him. Keble’s edition of Hooker’s works, first published in 1836, was a central feature in the promotion of the Oxford Movement’s ideals.1 Keble had been galvanised by the publication of an edition of Hooker’s Lawes in 1830 by Benjamin Hanbury.2 Hanbury, a low-Churchman, was not always sympathetic to Hooker’s position and his interpretation of the Lawes was problematic for Keble and his colleagues. This led Keble to correct Hanbury and restore Hooker to his rightful position. Thus he begins his Preface with the words, “The first object of the present publication is, to exhibit the remains of the great and venerable writer…in as correct a form as could be 1 Richard Hooker, The Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Richard Hooker with an Account of His Life and Death by Isaac Walton 7th edn., John Keble (ed), revised by R.W. Church and F. Paget, (Oxford, 1888). 2 Richard Hooker, The Ecclesiastical Polity and other Works of Richard Hooker: With his Life by Isaak Walton and Strype’s Interpolations Benjamin Hanbury (ed.), (London, 1830). 2 attained”.3 In the closing pages Keble refers to those who “resort…to the books of Ecclesiastical Polity, for conclusions and maxims very different from these.”4 He laments the citing of the Lawes by James II in his “ill-starred conversion to Romanism”, which Keble says could have been avoided if James had understood Hooker correctly and points the finger at both liberals and the rationalists who have hijacked Hooker for their own purposes.5 But Keble asserts that the true Hooker “had his full share in training up for the next generation, Laud, Hammond, Sanderson, and a multitude more such divines; to which succession and series, humanly speaking, we owe it that the Anglican church continues at such a distance from that of Geneva, and so near to the primitive truth and apostolical order.”6 Keble’s edition of Hooker’s works was, in short, a rescue mission. The defender of Anglicanism was needed once again as the Church faced its attackers. Keble’s desire was that Anglican Christians would be awakened from their slumber by Hooker’s mighty words and galvanised into standing with him to defend the English Church.
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