Background
Thomas Hooker was likely born on July 5, 1586 at Marefield or Birstall, Leicestershire.
(This classic work by Thomas Hooker lays out the necessity...)
This classic work by Thomas Hooker lays out the necessity of Self-Denial if one is to be considered a genuine Christian. Then Hooker analyzes the false states in which men rest securely: the states of the civil man, the formalist, and the temporary professor and then answers the question What graces are of the essence and being of a Christian? He concludes with a look at the doctrine of adoption. Volume 2 in the Works of Thomas Hooker series.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0964180375/?tag=2022091-20
(This book is a comparative religion work that also functi...)
This book is a comparative religion work that also functions as a spiritual book (or Bible) of syncretic religion.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1387326244/?tag=2022091-20
Thomas Hooker was likely born on July 5, 1586 at Marefield or Birstall, Leicestershire.
After receiving a preparatory education, he attended Cambridge University, earning a bachelor of arts degree (1608) and a master of arts degree (1611).
He remained as a fellow at the university until 1618.
In the 1626 Hooker served a congregation in Essex, where he became widely known for his excellent preaching. Because of his Puritan views, however, he attracted the attention of the Anglican authorities, who forced him to leave England.
He eventually settled in Rotterdam, Holland, and here he received the call to the ministry of the Newtown (Cambridge) congregation in the American colony of Massachusetts. Hooker was never happy in Newtown.
His congregation was dissatisfied with its land; the religious challenges posed by Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were shaking the colony; and, most significantly, Hooker found himself incompatible with the leaders of Massachusetts. In 1636 the Newtown congregation received permission to emigrate, and Hooker led a majority of them to Connecticut. The Hartford Church, under Hooker's pastorate, was exemplary for its lack of discord and controversy.
His "people" were limited to full participating members of the Puritan church, and his emphasis on the responsible use of power precluded unrestrained popular rule. Hooker did not differ with orthodox New England Puritanism, although he practiced these beliefs with more humanity than his clerical colleagues.
While living in Newtown, he had debated Roger Williams, and after moving to Connecticut, he returned to Massachusetts to serve on the court that tried Anne Hutchinson for heresy.
His pamphlet "A Survey of the Summed of Church-Discipline, " is an excellent explanation and defense of New England Congregationalism. Hooker retained his Hartford pastorate until his death on July 7, 1647. The Rev. Hooker died during an "epidemical sickness" at the age of 61. The location of his grave is unknown, although he is believed to be buried in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground. Because there was no known portrait of him, the statue of him that stands nearby, in front of Hartford's Old State House, was sculpted from the likenesses of his descendants.
Hooker was a humane and understanding clergyman. He made an outstanding contribution to the colony in a sermon in which he applied the principles of Congregationalism to political organization. Used as the basis for the Fundamental Orders, the sermon emphasized the election of public officials and the limitation of their power by the electorate.
(This classic work by Thomas Hooker lays out the necessity...)
(The issues of a tender conscience and assurance of salvat...)
(This book is a comparative religion work that also functi...)
He became a devout Puritan while studying at the University. Because of his Puritan views, however, he attracted the attention of the Anglican authorities, who forced him to leave England.
Hooker did not differ with orthodox New England Puritanism, although he practiced these beliefs with more humanity than his clerical colleagues.
While Hooker's ideas seemed highly democratic, they were strictly qualified.
He was married twice but the name of his first wife is not known. While associated with the Drake household, he also met and married Susannah Garbrand, Mrs. Drake's woman-in-waiting (April 3, 1621) in Amersham, Mrs. Drake's own birthplace. His son Samuel, likely born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1653. He became the well-known minister of Farmington, Connecticut, where his descendants lived for many generations.
