BIOGRAPHY

Shirley, F. J. Richard Hooker and Contemporary Political Ideas. London: S.P.C.K, 1949, 267 p.

Provides a history of Hooker's life, as well as an examination of his career and an assessment of his works.

Sisson, C. J. The Judicious Marriage of Mr. Hooker and the Birth of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940, 203 p.

Examines Hooker's marriage and its effect on his career.

Walton, Izaak. “The Life of Mr. Richard Hooker.” In The Lives of John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, & Robert Sanderson, pp. 153-249. London: Oxford University Press, 1927.

Surveys the life and career of Richard Hooker.

CRITICISM

Almasy, Rudolph. “The Purpose of Richard Hooker's Polemic.” Journal of the History of Ideas 39, no. 2 (April-June 1978): 251-70.

Examines Hooker's arguments in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and his purpose for writing the work.

Ferguson, Arthur B. “The Historical Perspective of Richard Hooker: A Renaissance Paradox.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 17-49.

Considers Hooker's writings from a historical perspective.

Forte, Paul E. “Richard Hooker's Theory of Law.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 12, no. 2 (Fall 1982): 133-57.

Explores Hooker's beliefs about the law as detailed in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

Hill, W. Speed. “The Authority of Hooker's Style.” Studies in Philology 67, no. 3 (July 1970): 328-38.

Examines the sources of Hooker's writing style.

———. “Doctrine and Polity in Hooker's Laws.” English Literary Renaissance 2, no. 2 (Spring 1972): 133-57.

Discusses Hooker's major themes in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

———. “Scripture as Text, Text as Scripture: The Case of Richard Hooker.” Text 9, (1996): 93-110.

Examines Hooker's beliefs about Scripture and the concepts of faith, structure, and authority.

Hudson, Nicholas. “Three Steps to Perfection: Rasselas and the Philosophy of Richard Hooker.” Eighteenth-Century Life 14, no. 3 (November 1990): 29-39.

Compares the structure and themes of Samuel Johnson's Rasselas and Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

Mahon, Vincent. “The ‘Christian Letter’: Some Puritan Objections to Hooker's Work; and Hooker's ‘Undressed’ Comments” Review of English Studies 25, no. 99 (August 1974): 305-12.

Examines Hooker's annotated copy of a document commonly known as the “Christian Letter,” asserting that Hooker's marginal notes give invaluable insight into his method of composition.

Manuszak, David. “Richard Hooker as a Controversialist.” Renaissance Papers (1979): 9-17.

Details Hooker's argument with the Puritans about the authority of Scripture.

Munz, Peter The Place of Richard Hooker in the History of Thought. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1952, 209 p.

Compares and contrasts Hooker's works with the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padua, Aristotle, and Plato.

Paget, Francis. An Introduction to the Fifth Book of Hooker's Treatise of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1907, 228 p.

Analyzes Hooker's major works.

Passerin D'Entreves, Alexander. “Richard Hooker.” In The Medieval Contribution to Political Thought: Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padua, Richard Hooker, pp. 117-42. New York: The Humanities Press, 1959.

Outlines Hooker's theories of law and politics.

Pollard, Arthur. Introduction to Richard Hooker, pp. 7-37. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1966.

Examines Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity and his sermons in the context of the religious conflict.

Young, Bruce W. “Shakespearean Tragedy in a Renaissance Context: King Lear and Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.” In Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare's King Lear, pp. 98-104. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1986.

Compares Shakespeare's King Lear and Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity in their Renaissance context.

Additional coverage of Hooker's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: British Writers, Vol. 1; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 132; Literature Resource Center; and Reference Guide to English Literature, Ed. 2.