Richard Hooker

on

Anglican Faith and Worship

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: Book V

A Modern Edition

Philip B. Secor

First published in Great Britain in 2003

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

36 Causton Street

London SW1P 4ST

Copyright © Philip B. Secor 2003

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Scripture quotations are taken from the New English Bible © Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970, and from the Geneva Bible.

Extracts from the Book of Common Prayer, the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown’s Patentee, Cambridge University Press.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-281-05585-8

For

Anne Smith Secor

Contents

Author’s Preface

Original Dedication to Archbishop John Whitgift

Introduction

1 True Religion Is the Root of All True Virtue and the Foundation of All Well-Ordered Commonwealths

2 Atheism Is the Opposite of True Religion (And a Commentary on Machiavelli)

3 The Causes of Superstition: Misguided Zeal and Ignorant Fear

4 The Charge of Superstition in the Church

Worship

5 Four General Charges Brought Against Our Church

6 Proposition 1: The Importance of Prescribed Forms of Worship

7 Proposition 2: Custom and Tradition as Valid Bases for Forms of Worship

8 Proposition 3: Forms of Worship, Unlike Religious Doctrine, Are Changeable by Church Law

9 Proposition 4: The Importance of Common Sense and Simple Equity in Applying Church Law to Particular Cases

10 Proposition 5: Private Opinions and Revelations Are Not Trustworthy in Matters of Church Practice

The Church

11 A Brief History of Church Buildings

12 Why We Dedicate Churches

13 Why We Give Names to Churches

14 No Harm in the Similarity Between Our Churches and Jewish Temples

15 On the Sumptuousness of Our Churches

16 Why Church Is the Best Place to Worship God

17 Why It Is Wrong to Tear Down Church Buildings for Alleged Abuses

Preaching

18 On Catechetical Teaching and Preaching

19 Scripture Reading as Part of Preaching and Interpreting Scripture

20 Preaching and Teaching with Special Reference to the Apocrypha

21 Sermons Are Not the Only Way to ‘Preach’ God’s Word

22 Preaching Versus Scripture Reading

The Service of Common Prayer

23 Prayer

24 Common Prayer

25 The Proper Place, Leadership and Form of Common Prayer

26 Common Prayer Preferable to Extemporaneous Prayer

27 A Response to Those Who Object to Our Common Prayer

28 The Example of Rome Sometimes Preferable to that of Geneva

The Liturgy

29 Vestments

30 The Minister’s Location and Demeanour During the Service

31 The Simplicity of Common Prayer and Clergy Qualifications

32 Our Worship Service Is Not Too ...

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About Richard Hooker on Anglican Faith and Worship: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: Book V

Richard Hooker (1554-1600) is the premier theologian of the Anglican religious tradition. Portions of his great apologia for Anglicanism, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity—still required reading in most Anglican seminaries—has been seminal for most Anglican theologians since the early seventeenth century. Unfortunately, Hooker’s defining ideas about the Church, the sacraments, Holy Scripture, the incarnation, prayer, worship, the Trinity, church polity, and virtually every aspect of Anglican faith and worship are no longer accessible to most Christians. His writing style is too cumbersome for most modern readers to untangle. This is especially so of the most important of all of his religious writings: book five of the Polity. To remedy this problem, and make Hooker’s timeless wisdom once again available to Christians inside the Anglican family and without, Dr. Secor has rendered Hooker’s difficult prose in book five into contemporary English, continuing the process of translation begun in his acclaimed, The Sermons of Richard Hooker: A Modern Edition.

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