Richard Hooker

I have this week discovered Richard Hooker.  His Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the title notwithstanding, is really an Anglican work of theology comparable to modern works that attempt to cover the whole body of divinity, albeit in the style of the sixteen hundreds.  It is really, really good, even excellent.

Hooker is not light reading.  It takes time to adjust to his style, and even then he gives the reader so much to think about that it is taking me a week to cover even a small amount – and I am not a slow reader.  His response to the Puritans’ objections to the BCP and vestments is eye-poppingly revelatory.  How I wish that I had read him earlier.

The immediate impact is to make me value the Anglican Reformation more than I already did.