laudable Practice

Having addressed the contention of papalist apologists, that the Reformed Church of England was an innovation, a rejection of the 'old religion' for the 'new', and thus a removal of the ancient landmarks, Boys, in his Rogation Sunday sermon , then turned to those who separated from the Church of England, accusing it of being inadequately reformed. Boys' response is fascinating, not least because he emphasises - against Puritan Separatists - not the Reformed nature of the English Church, but its continuities with the patristic era. In other words, he accuses the Separatists, no less than the papalist apologists, of removing the ancient landmarks. Indeed, he sets forth a very forceful critique of the Separatists and their "platform of government": Now concerning Schismatics, and Separatists, as they be worthily surnamed, novelists, even so their platform of government, is a new device, which no Fathers ever witnessed, no Council ever favoured, no Church ever...

There has been a significant revision of the historical understanding of Richard Hooker in recent decades.  The 19th century conception of Hooker as the architect of an 'Anglican via media' has been replaced by a much more historically compelling account of Hooker the Reformed theologian. This has led to some conservative evangelical Anglicans claiming Hooker for themselves, often invoking Nigel Atkinson's  Richard Hooker and the Authority of Scripture, Tradition and Reason . While Atkinson provided a somewhat unsophisticated summary of more recent Hooker research, he did aid conservative evangelical Anglicans in apparently rediscovering Hooker. Missing, however, from this newfound conservative evangelical enthusiasm for Hooker the Reformed theologian is the context established by serious Hooker research. As Hooker scholar Torrance Kirby has brilliantly demonstrated, 'Reformed' was a deeply contested category in Hooker's Elizabethan Church of England. Likewise,...