<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Richard Hooker’s sermon A Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect appears, on the face of it, to be further evidence of his commitment to Reformed theology. History, however, tells a slightly different story as readers have debated just exactly what theological position Hooker was taking. Over the years it has attracted comment from those who have used it both to align Hooker with and to separate Hooker from the Magisterial Reformers. These debates continue. This article, however, does not pursue this particular method of engagement. Instead, through a careful reading of the text, Hooker’s more complex and often startling theology is revealed- as he locates God’s presence in the pivot between doubt and despair, in places where God is thought to be absent. Hooker’s aim seems to be to find God in the darkness and in so doing he transcends the usual questions and debates that surround the doctrine of certainty and offers to present day readers a creative and sensitive approach to the anxiety caused by doubt.</p></abstract>

Richard Hooker’s sermon A Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect appears, on the face of it, to be further evidence of his commitment to Reformed theology. History, however, tells a slightly different story as readers have debated just exactly what theological position Hooker was taking. Over the years it has attracted comment from those who have used it both to align Hooker with and to separate Hooker from the Magisterial Reformers. These debates continue. This article, however, does not pursue this particular method of engagement. Instead, through a careful reading of the text, Hooker’s more complex and often startling theology is revealed- as he locates God’s presence in the pivot between doubt and despair, in places where God is thought to be absent. Hooker’s aim seems to be to find God in the darkness and in so doing he transcends the usual questions and debates that surround the doctrine of certainty and offers to present day readers a creative and sensitive approach to the anxiety caused by doubt.

Finding God in the Darkness: A Fresh Look at Richard Hooker’s a Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect

Perichoresis

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Richard Hooker’s sermon A Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect appears, on the face of it, to be further...

Finding God in the Darkness: A Fresh Look at Richard Hooker’s a Learned and Comfortable Sermon of the Certaintie and Perpetuitie of Faith in the Elect

Published Online: Jun 27, 2014

Page range: 77 - 92

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/perc-2014-0005

© 2014

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.