Works by Richard Hooker
- Church Defended: the reformation of the laws and orders ecclesiastical in the Church of England: Volume 1
- Church Defended: the reformation of the laws and orders ecclesiastical in the Church of England: Volume 2
- Church Defended: the reformation of the laws and orders ecclesiastical in the Church of England: Volume 3
- Learned Discourse on Justification
Description: James Kiefer's introduction
to this work explains its premise well. Richard Hooker
said once in a sermon, "I doubt not but God was merciful
to save thousands of our fathers living in popish
superstitions, inasmuch as they sinned ignorantly." Keifer explains that
"This sentence, which today would be fiercely attacked by those who
thought it arrogant, narrow, and bigoted, was at the time attacked on
opposite grounds. Walter Travers...said that since the adherents of the
Pope did not believe in justification by faith, they could not be
justified by faith, which meant that they could not be justified at all,
which meant that they were certainly damned, with no exceptions.
Hooker, he claimed, had sold out to the enemy." In response to Travers'
objections, Hooker crafted a masterful sermon on justification. A brief
look at the table of contents will show readers the outline of his
sermon. This work is a practical application of Hooker's educated,
logical, and authoritative theology.
Abby Zwart
CCEL Staff
Writer
