Abstract

For many years critical scholarship has been inclined to view Richard Hooker's account of natural law as compelling evidence of his tendency towards an Erasmian humanism at odds with the basic teaching of the Magisterial Protestant Reformers. In addition, features of Hooker's argument which reflect the explicit influence of Aquinas and Aristotle have been cited in support of the theory that Hooker represents a theological middle way between Rome and continental protestantism - sometimes referred to as the Anglican" via media." Based upon recognition that Hooker's main apologetic intent was to demonstrate the consistency of the Elizabethan Settlement with protestant orthodoxy, a revision of the received interpretation of Hooker's theory of natural law is proposed here. This essay seeks to demonstrate that Hooker's appeals to the authority of natural law are in actuality thoroughly consistent with similar appeals made by such magisterial reformers as Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin and Bullinger