Ensaio sobre Noção de Razão na obra “Das Leis” de Richard Hooker: apontamentos para uma ideia de anglicanismo

Abstract

This article aims to suggest that Richard Hooker's notion of reason is constitutive of the idea of Anglicanism. The objective is to address two questions: [1] What is reason for Hooker, and how does it operate? and [2] Why is reason significant for Anglicanism? Through a literature review—including John Keble’s edition of the Preface and Book I of Of the Laws, as well as key commentators—the article seeks to achieve its aim by discussing: [1] the political and religious context in which Hooker's theological thought was formed; [2] the relationship between reason and nature; [3] the relationship between reason and illumination; and [4] the relationship between reason and Anglicanism. Broadly speaking, the article suggests that reason, in Hooker, may be seen as an element indicative both via media and of a certain Anglican identity, even though the via media itself is a much-debated concept in Hooker’s work.