The Word Made Flesh for Us: A Treatise on Christology and the Sacraments from Hooker's Law

by Richard Hooker, W. Bradford Littlejohn (editor), Patrick Timmis (editor)

“The Word Made Flesh For Us is a wonderful modernization of Richard Hooker’s sixteenth century classic that somehow succeeds in making the work more accessible even as it preserves the breviloquence of its English prose. The editors’ choice to focus on Christology and the sacraments is there is an obvious connection between the hypostatic union (God was in Christ), the mystical union (Christ is in us), and the sacraments (divinely ordained means for cementing this union). Moreover, with its conceptual distinctions and logical inferences, Hooker’s Christology is a veritable masterclass in theology that is as analytic as it is orthodox.”

– KEVIN VANHOOZER Research Professor of Systematic Theology,
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

In this fifth volume of a multi-year translation project by the Davenant Institute, we present key sections from Book V of Hooker’s Laws, in which Hooker thoroughly yet succinctly lays out the Reformed yet catholic perspective on both Christology and the sacraments. Long regarded as both the theological and rhetorical high point of the Laws, these chapters provide a survey of the church’s historic teaching on the person of Christ and our union with him, as well as an irenic defense of Reformed distinctives over against the Catholic, Lutheran, and anti-sacramental alternatives.

Yet this is no dry theological Hooker’s descriptions of Christ, baptism, and especially the eucharist are among the most stirring passages penned during the English Reformation. Book V of the Laws is as valuable today as it was when first written for the edification of the church, the sharpening of the mind, and the enrichment of the soul.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction

195 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2024

About the author

Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and the value of tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism. He was the co-founder (with Thomas Cranmer and Matthew Parker) of Anglican theological thought. Hooker's great Elizabethan guide to Church Government and Discipline is both a masterpiece of English prose and one of the bulwarks of the Established Church in England. Hooker projected eight books for the great work. The first four books of Ecclesiastical Polity appeared in 1593, Book V in 1597. Hooker died in 1600 at the age of forty-six and the remaining three books were completed, though not revised, before his death. The manuscripts fell into careless or unscrupulous hands and were not published until long afterwards (1648 to 1662), and then only in mutilated form. Samuel Pepys makes mention of Hooker's Polity three times in his Diary, first in 1661, "Mr. Chetwind fell commending of 'Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity,' as the best book, and the only one that made him a Christian, which puts me upon the buying of it, which I will do shortly." In 1667 Pepys bought the new edition that had been printed in 1666, the first to include the life of Hooker by Izaak Walton.

Reviews

[Luke Abendroth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best summaries of Christology I have ever read.

How does the Divine nature affect the humanity of Christ?

Also puts the nail on the coffin of the enlightenment evangelical view of the Lords funeral. I mean supper.

[Austin Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterful. Hooker moves beautifully from christology to our union with the incarnate Son to our further participation with Christ through the sacraments. Looking at the table of contents, it could seem like he’s just treating two loci at random, but it becomes clear that Hooker is making a sustained argument which culminates in his theology of the Supper. By the time you get to reading about the Supper directly (the very last chapter), you understand why you’ve read so much about Eutychianism. Hooker’s theology of the Supper is bound up with his understanding of the human nature of Christ acting as a conduit or mediator of divine grace from God to man. It is only by our participation and union with the incarnate Christ that we can receive any grace from the Lord.

Apart from the broader argument, Hooker provides the most succinct description of orthodox Christology over and against ancient heresies than I’ve read anywhere else.

I want to read this a dozen times.

Star deducted because it was just too short and because Hooker’s seems to argue for baptismal regeneration.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply an incredible treatise on the connection between Christology and the Sacraments. It is one of those books that, after finishing it, invokes a desire to give thanks and praise to the Father for the glorious mysteries that he allows us to partake in through His Son Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

On Baptism: "For as we are not natural men without birth, we are not Christian men in the eyes of the church of God without new birth. Nor are we new-born, according to the manifest ordinary course of God's will, except by that baptism which both declares and makes us Christians."

On Confirmation: "It was the church's ancient custom to add the laying-on of hands after baptism, along with the effectual prayer for the illumination of God's most Holy Spirit, in order to confirm and perfect what the Spirit's grace had begun in baptism."

On the Holy Eucharist: "We understand that the strength of our life begun in Christ is Christ--that his flesh and blood are truly and not imaginarily meat and drink. Through faith we truly perceive the very taste of eternal life in the body and blood sacramentally presented, discerning that the grace of the sacrament is as truly present as is the food which our mouths eat and drink."

[Caleb Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Hooker is a genius. This work especially shows his careful and articulate language which he is known for, as well as the depth of his knowledge. This work is an edited/“translated” work, even though the original is in English as well, so I hope to eventually go back and read the original.

This book lays out the doctrines of Christ with the specific focus of how that relates to the sacraments. This is Reformational Christology at its best, since it is not focused on abstract ideas, but on the meal that church members partake of weekly, as well as how Christ’s work relates to the gifts given in baptism.

Much of the Anglican ethos is “Mere Christianity,” and this is clear in the way Hooker argues for the Reformed view of the Eucharist. He primarily refutes the Lutheran view and the Catholic view, and basically asserts that everyone in England is on his side (including the Puritans). His argument against the Lutheran view of the ubiquity of Christ’s humanity is nuanced and helpful, while still trying to accept that Christ’s body is in some sense present everywhere.

This work is approachable, although some sections take some time to get through. Definitely worth the read!

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book seems to be based on using Scripture to prove a doctrine right rather than using Scripture to scrutinize a mans doctrine. I find that Hooker banks on his audience not checking the full context of a passage and marveling at his wisdom. Though his arguments are coherant and clear, that does not mean they are true. It's time to get back to the Word for me.

[Zach McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good ol’ English reformed teaching like your great great great great great great grandma used to enjoy.

[Gabriel Franke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hooker Masterclass