SOURCE: Davies, E. T. “Richard Hooker and The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.” In The Political Ideas of Richard Hooker, pp. 27-43. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1946.

In the following excerpt, Davies provides an overview of Hooker's life and work and outlines the major arguments in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity

Although many had taken in hand to answer the Presbyterians, it was not until the last decade of the sixteenth century that the greatest and definite answer was given. It was given by Richard Hooker who was born in March, 1554, at Heavy Tree, then a village outside Exeter, but to-day a suburb of that city. His parents do not seem to have been people of substance because, after a stay at the local school, it was his uncle, John Hooker, Chamberlain of Exeter, who made it possible for the boy to proceed to the university. The...