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Richard Hooker Biography

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HOOKER, Richard (c.1553–1600). An English clergyman, author of the most famous existing treatise on the constitution of the Church of England. He was born near Exeter in the year 1553 or 1554, of poor parents. He was a grave, bashful, and quiet boy, diligent in his studies and quick at learning. His early progress was so rapid that his uncle, John Hooker, was induced to aid him in pursuing his education further. With additional help from John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, who afterward became his patron, he was enabled to go to Oxford, where he entered Corpus Christi College in 1567. He became a scholar of Corpus Christi in 1573, was admitted to the degree of M.A. in 1577, and the same year became a fellow. The range of his learning was wide and by no means confined to theology. From the age of 19 he served as tutor, and in 1579 he was summoned, in an emergency, to deliver the Hebrew lecture, which he did so much to the satisfaction of the authorities that he continued to perform this duty so long as he remained at Oxford. For some unknown reason—perhaps through Puritan influence—he was once temporarily suspended from college, but honorably restored within a month. In 1582 Hooker took holy orders and not long after married, Walton says, to his own sorrow. This marriage put an end to Hooker's quiet and congenial Oxford life. He was now obliged to seek a parish. He received the modest living of Drayton-Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire (1584), where he lived, rather uncomfortably, for about a year. At the end of that period his fortunes were bettered by his being made Master of the Temple, London, though his preference was for a living in the country.

Hooker's London life was troubled with ecclesiastical controversy, which he disliked, yet which he would not attempt to avoid when once it was forced upon him. His colleague, Travers, represented that party in the Church of England which desired the adoption of Genevan ideas and usages, whereas Hooker stood for the episcopal establishment. These opposite views were reflected in the preaching at the Temple. "The forenoon sermon spake Canterbury, and the afternoon Geneva," was the current saying. Presbyterianism was either more popular, or else it had the better presentation, for we hear that the congregation "ebbed in the morning" (when Hooker preached) and "flowed in the afternoon" (to hear Travers). The Puritan champion was at last silenced by Archbishop Whitgift, but the discussion was continued in print. Hooker was so deeply stirred by the question at issue that he determined to give it exhaustive treatment in book form and at once entered upon the preparation of what became the celebrated Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. To carry out his design a change of scene was necessary, and Hooker sought once more the quiet of a country parish and found it at Boscombe in Hants (1591). At the same time he was made a minor prebend of Salisbury, which added to his income without increasing his labor. In Boscombe Hooker wrote the first four books of the Laws, and they were published in 1594. The following year he removed to Bishopsbourne in Kent, where he spent the remainder of his life. Book v of the Laws appeared in 1597, and there is reason to believe that the other three books were written here, although they were not published. There were to be eight books in all, according to Hooker's original plan. The Laws were hailed as the best defense of the Anglican position ever written. Visitors sought the author out in his retreat, but he himself was all unconscious of the important position he had come to occupy. His days were passed in quiet labor, and he continued to fulfill every duty of his parish with conscientious fidelity until his death, Nov. 2, 1600, at the comparatively early age of 47.

Hooker's reputation rests upon his writings, not upon his preaching. In personal appearance he was not prepossessing, and his manner in the pulpit was not effective. But as the author of the Ecclesiastical Polity he stands in the front rank of English men of letters. This work is a monument of literary style, in the formative period of English prose, besides being the most important contribution to the subject of Church government in the language. We have the first five books precisely as Hooker wrote them. The fate of books vi to viii in their completed form is shrouded in mystery. Walton relates that the manuscript was destroyed by Puritan relatives of Mrs. Hooker, but that the earlier rough drafts were preserved. From these, long afterward, the seventh and eighth books were printed. What claimed to be a sixth book appeared in 1648, along with the eighth, but most of this probably does not belong to the Laws at all. The whole eight books were republished, with a life of Hooker by Izaak Walton, in 1666, since which time they have passed through many editions. In substance the Ecclesiastical Polity is a treatise on Church and civil government. His object was to defend episcopacy, but he also states a theory of government which was fruitful in English thought. Hooker's conception of the origin of the state resembles the "social compact" theory of more recent times. The Church he holds to be simply the English state, looked at from the religious point of view. He defends the Established church system, with all its ceremonial; but he does this with singular moderation, holding it to be a matter of expediency rather than of necessity, and he invariably accords courteous treatment to his opponents. In discussing the theories of Presbyterians and Independents, he points out what he believes to be their fundamental defects, and he defends the episcopal theory on scriptural and rational grounds as well as because of its antiquity and practical success.