Richard Hooker lived in a period of history when the church was struggling to find its way forward in England. The Protestants and Catholics had been brought together to worship by law, what was called The Elizabethan Settlement. Richard Hooker wrote an 8 volume work called ‘Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ in which he explored the way the Church should be governed. It was he who gave the Church the theological method of finding its way which used Scripture, Reason and Tradition. He brought together Catholic and Reformed thought.
The Anglican Church is struggling now to move forward as a whole with a huge diversity of opinion being held. Also, within the Anglican group in Second Life we have members from all traditions in the Anglican Church and those who belong to other denominations and none. Richard Hooker might not understand Second Life, but he would probably understand the challenges of being church in these circumstances.
On Tuesday at the 2pm SLT service, I talked about Richard Hooker and what he gave the Church, which resulted in his being called the ‘founder of Anglicanism’.
The readings were Sirach 44:10-15, Psalm 119:97-104 and John 16:12-15.
