Description
Charles Miller’s rigorous and sensitive examination of Richard Hooker’s theology makes a valuable addition to study of the 16th century cleric, one of the founding theologians of modern Anglicanism.
Miller examines Hooker’s works in detail, leading the reader through different facets of his vision of God, creation, Scripture, the sacraments and practises of Christian devotion. Hooker’s theology challenges an increasingly time-bound, relativistic approach to doctrine and truth; his sources were as wide, as ancient, and as modern as Hooker could make them. Miller’s thoughtful analysis is informed throughout by an understanding of the context of Hooker’s theological development against the backdrop of continental Calvinism and the remnants of Roman Catholicism in England.
The growth of interest in Hooker among specialists has been accompanied by an abandonment of the serious study of Hooker’s thought among theological students, clergy and theologians. Miller’s work addresses this lack; Hooker’s insights must not be forgotten in the daily distribution of theological food to Christian people. A study which attunes readers to Hooker’s particular theological ‘voice’ and teaches its value in both in his own context and as a present-day interlocutor, this volume will be of great interest to Christians and theological students alike.
About the Author
Charles Miller is an Anglican priest who has taught theology, Anglican studies and spirituality in seminaries and universities in the United States and the UK. His books include: Toward A Fuller Vision: Orthodoxy and the Anglican Experience, Praying the Eucharist: Reflections on the Eucharistic Experience of God, and For the Gift of the World: An Introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae. Since 2006 he has been Team Rector of Abingdon and Vicar of St Helen’s Church in the Diocese of Oxford.
Contents
Preface
Sources and Abbreviations
A Note on Terminology and A Note on Quotations
Part One: Orientation
Introduction: Why Study Richard Hooker?
1. ‘That Glorious Beam of the English Church’: the Man and his World
2. ‘The Weight of this Requireth Largenesse’: The Big Picture
Part Two: Foundations
3. ‘That Light which None Can Approach Unto’: God
4. ‘To Shew Beneficence and Grace’: Creation
5. ‘The Noblest Creature in the World’: Humankind
6. ‘A Way Mystical and Supernatural’: Scripture
7. ‘Life and Light Eternal’: Jesus Christ
8. ‘Generative Force and Virtue’: The Holy Spirit and Grace
Part Three: Participation
9. ‘The Sovereign Observances of God’s Grace’: Worship and Sacraments
10. ‘The Signs of God’s Love’: Baptism and the Eucharist
Part Four: Appropriation
11. ‘A Holy Rule of Doing Well’: Faith and Works
12. ‘The Science of Things Divine’: Theology and Doctrine
13. ‘Our Good: Our Sovereign Good’: Moral Theology
14. ‘Our Desire to Behold God’: Spiritual Theology
Part Five: Application
15. ‘That Visible Mystical Body’: Ecclesiology
16. ‘The Public Ministry of Holy Things’: Ministry
17. ‘The Laws by Which We Live’: Political Theology
Part Six: Conclusion
Summing Up
Further Reading
Appendix: A Selection of Texts from Hooker’s Works
Select Bibliography
Index
Endorsements and Reviews
Charles Miller has produced an amazingly comprehensive volume … covering a vast number of subjects and treating them with mature scholarship and erudition … he draws new attention to classical understandings of Anglican theology, formulated many years ago by More and Cross and subsequently embellished by Olivier Loyer and others. The next generation of Hooker scholarship will needs make frequent and grateful reference to the seventeen chapters of Miller’s far-ranging volume.
J. Robert Wright, General Theological Seminary, New York City
… it is good to welcome this clearly written and thorough account and appraisal of Hooker’s work … This is a book I would commend warmly to all interested in Hooker’s legacy and its potential use in current ecumenical debate and relationships.
David Carter, Churches Together in England
Charles Miller presents what is essentially a more systematic and concise exposition of Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity than the author himself ever managed. … [Hooker’s] own thought, substantial yet undogmatic, should be better known by Anglican clergy and ordinands. His teaching on the need to deploy reason in exposition of Scripture remains especially pertinent. Because Hooker wrote in paragraphs, not sentences, Miller’s guide, although descriptive, could spread understanding of his work effectively.
David Grumett, in The Times Literary Supplement, 25 October 2013
[A] splendid monograph on the theology of Richard Hooker and its relevance to the origins of Anglicanism … This book is a veritable feast for the theologically hungry.
Torrance Kirby, in International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, Vol 13, No 4
Miller works extensively with the most recent and most influential scholarship in the field of Hooker studies and manages to do so while also providing his own take on Hooker’s theology as he describes it under each topic heading … Miller is to be commended for his clear and succinct summarises of both Hooker’s own writing and also of the secondary literature available by which to interpret Hooker … this work will prove to be a helpful reference point for new and continuing students of the ideas of Richard Hooker.
Dustin Resch, Briercrest College and Seminary, in Reviews in Religion and Theology, Vol 21, Issue 2
Miller packs plenty of scholarship, both new and old, into the book while avoiding getting bogged down in academic disputes … This book is now the best advanced introduction to the subject.
Nigel Voak, in Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol 65, Issue 3
This is a book of historical theology for which many of us have been waiting; for it both a model of meticulous academic research, and, through its structure, language and style, enlightening to the non-specialist reader.
Vincent Strudwick, in Fairacres Chronicle, Vol 47, No 1
If we can read only one Anglican theologian, it should unquestionably be Richard Hooker … If we have time to read only one sensibly sized and reasonably priced book about Hooker’s thought it should, in my view, be this one … Miller provides a clear and interesting exposition of Hooker’s thought, organized by prominent themes and broken down by subheadings. He has absorbed hooker’s writings, and is abreast of much recent secondary literature …
Reverend Professor Paul Avis, in Church Times, 11 July 2014
Miller’s book constitutes an impressive attempt to synthesize Hooker’s rich and expansive theological vision, and to put it into ecumenical conversation for the sake of today’s theologians and church leaders. Were it to succeed in gaining wide use as a seminary textbook, the Anglican churches could not but profit thereby.
W. Bradford Littlejohn, in Journal of Anglican Studies, 2014
… [Miller] proves his case that Hooker has much to teach us today. Hooker challenges a relativistic approach, relates theology and spirituality, certainly challenges the church to recover confidence in its worship, and shows how to conduct a religious controversy! Miller wryly comments that the name Hooker is more honoured than read; let us hope that this book is read.
Michael Brydon, in Journal of Theological Studies, Vol 65, No 2
Miller has taken on a difficult task, to make Hooker comprehensible to modern audiences without being polemical or shortchanging his subject. … Miller has produced a patiently written, clear exposition of Hooker’s evolving thought.
Frederick Quinn, in Anglican and Episcopal History, March 2015
Miller’s book constitutes an impressive attempt to synthesize Hooker’s rich and expansive theological vision, and to put it into ecumenical conversation for the sake of today’s theologians and church leaders. Were it to succeed in gaining wide use as a seminary textbook, the Anglican churches could not but profit thereby.
W. Bradford Littlejohn, in Journal of Anglican Studies, Vol 13, Issue 1
Richard Hooker and the Vision of God has much to commend it. … [Miller’s] infectious passion for all things Hookerian lends a feverish intensity to the text …
Paul Dominiak, in Anglian Theological Review, Vol 98.1
It offers a very exquisite introduction; especially precious are the cleverly chosen excerpts in the appendix.
Martin Ohst, in Theologische Literaturzeichnung, No 141, Heft 11
This is a well-intentioned volume, which endeavours to cover a good deal of ground in a systematic and helpful way. Miller is undoubtedly correct in identifying some of the significant and distinctive characteristics of Hooker’s thought and his contribution to subsequent Anglican tradition.
A.J. Joyce, in Ecclesiology, April 2016
Miller has written a clear and accessible account of Hooker’s theology, illuminating very helpfully the context in which he wrote, while also apprecitating the complexity of Hooker’s contested legacy during subsequent periods in Anglican history including the present. … Miller has made a valuable contribution not only to the study of Richard Hooker as an historical figure of importance to Anglicanism, but opened his writings as a gift to the Church today.
N.H. Taylor, in Heythrop Journal, Vol 57, Issue 2
