Prawo i geneza porządku politycznego w teologii politycznej Richarda Hookera
The Law and the Origins of Political Order in Richard Hooker’s Political Theology

Summary/Abstract: Richard Hooker was one of the most important English theologians and political thinkers of the 16th century. He is regarded as the originator of Anglicanism and the greatest adversary of Puritan extremists. His fundamental work The Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie is a repudiation of both the key principles of Puritanism (as formulated by Thomas Cartwright and William Travers) and the doctrine of Rome. While Roman Catholics put the Scripture and tradition on a parity as the touchstone of belief and the Puritans would have no authority but the Bible this article argues that Hooker steered clear of either extreme. His formula was to accept the Scripture’s absolute authority where it spoke plainly and unequivocally and to consult the tradition the church on those points the Bible was silent or ambiguous. However, the solution would be incomplete without human reason, which, he insists, must be used and obeyed whenever Scripture and tradition needed clarification or were faced with a new set of circumstances. So his legal philosophy, rooted in Aquinas’ theology and a reformed concept of justification, relies on the combined guidance of Revelation, tradition and reason.

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