Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 2: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 2, credited to Richard Hooker, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 2 by Richard Hooker. Read in English by InTheDesert. Hooker resolved to investigate the position of the English Church, and to attempt to answer the question What is the basis upon which Church laws and Church government rest? And his magnum opus ‘The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ was the result. The Puritan system with which Richard Hooker found himself face to face, and which he so resolutely and courageously set himself the task of discrediting, speaking broadly, was based on the assumption that, in all matters affecting religious worship, discipline, and government, an unchangeable rule is laid down in Holy Scripture, and in Holy Scripture alone. It was held (by the Puritans) that no law could be of permanent obligation which was not expressed in Holy Scripture, and that no law which was contained in any part of Holy Scripture could fail to be of permanent obligation. In opposition to the Puritan contention Hooker urged that, in order to discover what the Divine order is, we must have recourse not only to the written word of God, but also to the moral relations, the historical development, and the social and political institutions of the human race and, in determining the laws of this Divine order, he asserted the function of human reason. And, moreover, he claimed for human reason the office of distinguishing in the Bible record, between what is changeable and what is unchangeable, between what is of merely temporal and what is of lasting obligation. The design of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, as stated by Richard Hooker, was to settle current controversies concerning religion and government, and “to resolve the conscience, and to show as near as I can what in this controversy the heart is to think, if it will follow the light of sound and sincere judgment, without either cloud of prejudice, or mist of passionate affection.” - Summary by Vernon Staley

Recording facts

• Recording title: Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 2
• Author credits: Richard Hooker
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 8
• Combined MP3 track duration: 1:34:55

Catalogue topics

• bible
• theology
• Anglicanism
• Anglican
• natural law
• moral law
• biblical law

Track guide

1. 01 - An Answer to Their First Proof Brought Out of Scripture, Proverbs 2:9 — 8:45
2. 02 - To Their Second, 1 Corinthians 10:31 — 4:57
3. 03 - To Their Third, 1 Timothy 4:5 — 1:58
4. 04 - To Their Fourth, Romans 14:23 — 12:57
5. 05 - To Their Proofs Out of Fathers, Who Dispute Negatively from the Authority of Holy Scripture — 18:16
6. 06 - To Their Proof by the Scriptures Custom of Disputing from Divine Authority Negatively — 13:02
7. 07 - An Examination of Their Opinion Concerning the Force of Arguments Taken from Human Authority for the Ordering of Men's Actions and Persuasions — 22:49
8. 08 - A Declaration What the Truth is in This Matter — 12:10

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