For many years, Richard Hooker (1554–1600) has traditionally been seen as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, setting out in Elizabeth I’s reign the English Church’s position as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, however, the old consensus has crumbled and revisionists have argued with increasing strength that Hooker should be viewed as a thoroughly Reformed theologian – a defender of the Elizabethan Reformed consensus against radicals like the puritans. Dr Voak takes issue with this interpretation, arguing that although Hooker ... More

For many years, Richard Hooker (1554–1600) has traditionally been seen as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, setting out in Elizabeth I’s reign the English Church’s position as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, however, the old consensus has crumbled and revisionists have argued with increasing strength that Hooker should be viewed as a thoroughly Reformed theologian – a defender of the Elizabethan Reformed consensus against radicals like the puritans. Dr Voak takes issue with this interpretation, arguing that although Hooker started out in the Reformed mainstream, in his later writings he became highly critical of a wide range of fundamentally Reformed positions.