Richard Hooker

For one reason or another, I haven't mentioned any saints in a long time. But on this day after the election, I am glad to celebrate the feast of Richard Hooker. He's kind of a theological Obama, staying cool while everyone else is all hot and bothered.

I don't know as much about Hooker as I would like, except that he was basically one of the founding fathers of Anglicanism, and that very few people have actually read his theological masterpiece upon which much of Anglicanism depends: Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie. I certainly haven't. Don't plan to either. And so I am completely dependent upon Wikipedia which says that

He argued that church organization, like political organization, is one of the "things indifferent" to God. He wrote that minor doctrinal issues were not issues that damned or saved the soul, but rather frameworks surrounding the moral and religious life of the believer. He argued there were good monarchies and bad ones, good democracies and bad ones, and good church hierarchies and bad ones, what mattered was the piety of the people. At the same time, Hooker argued that authority was commanded by the Bible and by the traditions of the early church, but authority was something that had to be based on piety and reason rather than automatic investiture. This was because authority had to be obeyed even if it were wrong and needed to be remedied by right reason and the Holy Spirit. Notably, Hooker's affirmed that the power and propriety of bishops need not be in every case absolute.

[emphasis mine]

It seems so obvious, and yet we get so caught up in arguing whether the structures are good or bad, the political parties are good or bad, the label is good or bad, that we miss the hard middle way of "It depends." It may depend upon the person, or the location, or the circumstances. But one of the great thing Hooker offers is the possibility of change. That changing opinion is not weakness, but right reason in the light of new information.

"New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth."
says the hymn. Much easier to understand than Hooker. But I think the point is...similar.

As far as the election goes: what's done is done. The votes are cast. Time to do what needs doing in the light of that new information and new situation. No better way to face that than with the collect for the day:

O God of truth and peace, you raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion*: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

*insert your controversial issue here.