Richard Hooker, the Rule of Faith, and the Rise of Religious Evidentialism (Reformed Historical Theology) - Hardcover

Voak, Nigel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3525502079 ISBN 13: 9783525502075

Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG, 2025

Synopsis

Nigel Voak examines the genesis and evolution of religious evidentialism in England from 1585 to 1700, a deeply influential epistemology which claims that religious beliefs are only justified to the extent that we have evidence to substantiate them, and that we have an obligation to proportion our assent to the strength of our evidence. Given the propositions of faith lack the evidentness of objects of scientific knowledge, absolutely certain assent to such beliefs is therefore epistemically unjustifiable. This epistemology, which breaks with the previous Christian tradition, is classically formulated in John Locke‘s An Essay concerning Human Understanding (first edition 1690). This study argues that this epistemology of belief can be traced back to the English theologian Richard Hooker (1554–1600), whose thought was then developed over the course of the seventeenth-century Rule of Faith Controversy, which acted as the crucible for these new ideas on faith, evidence and certainty. Voak shows that the key thinkers in this process, including Locke himself, were aware that this epistemology came from Hooker, and used him in formulating their own influential positions.

About this title

About the Author

Nigel Voak, DPhil, is a private researcher based in Oxford, and is the author of Richard Hooker and Reformed Theology (2003).

Edition details

• Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3525502079
• ISBN 13: 9783525502075
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 443