Wednesday, November 5, 2014 (Richard Hooker)
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who criticizes you for attending a church that uses a liturgy, celebrates the Eucharist regularly, and allows for certain traditions that aren’t pulled directly out of the Bible, then you can relate in some way to what it was like living in Richard Hooker’s day. Hooker lived in the mid to late-sixteenth century, just after the first wave of reformation swept (or crept) through England. He is considered by many to have laid the foundation for what is called the via media, or Anglican middle way (that is, nicely and reasonably walking midway between Catholic and Reformed positions).
In Hooker’s day the Puritans wanted to see extreme reforms that would do away with anything that seemed remotely ‘Popish.’ In Book V of his Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Hooker advocated for the continuation of transcendent worship where “the militant Church doth resemble by sensible means... that hidden dignity and glory wherewith the Church triumphant in heaven is beautified.” Hooker believed that worship should give people a taste of heaven, while at the same time affirming tradition and the engaging of our senses (through music, the celebration of the sacraments, and so on).
In reading today from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians about his preaching of an unpopular wisdom “not... of this age” (1 Cor 2:6), we remember and give thanks for Richard Hooker whose writings and example helped to shape our Church.
- Matthew Kieswetter
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