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Anna Alexander vs. Richard Hooker

In yesterday's Faithful Four matchup, Maria Skobtsova defeated Esther 73% to 27% to make it to the Championship Round. Who will compete with Maria to vie for the Golden Halo? That's the question to be decided over the next 24 hours as Anna Alexander, the Georgia Deaconess, faces Richard Hooker, the Anglican theologian.

To get this deep into the Saintly Smackdown, Anna defeated Peter Claver, Edith Cavell, and Eglantyne Jebb, while Richard got past Mary of Egypt, Margaret of Scotland, and Phocas the Gardener.

Anna continues to be shepherded through the bracket by her namesake Anna Fitch Courie. Richard's advocate is Marcus Halley, who...shares a last name initial with Mr. Hooker.

Finally, did you watch the final in-season episode of Monday Madness? Of course you did. But here's the link nonetheless. You know, to share with your friends and family and Facebook friends you've never actually met.

Anna Alexander

Anna sighed as she began her walk between Darian and Brunswick. The day was already stifling hot and the sun had not yet reached its peak. The mosquitoes were already out in full force and the dust from the road was turning her habit from black to brown. She prayed for a breeze to cut the air that was so thick you could swim through it. Although the day was already shaping into a typical southern day, Anna couldn’t help but smile as she heard the sweet chirping of cicadas in the trees. The birds were greeting her with their morning chatter and the magnolias were in bloom. There were signs of God everywhere on her daily journey and these comforted her with her mission ahead.

With each step, Anna prayed for each of her students by name and prayed God would bless them with skills to change the world. She worried that the world would never see her children as equal in God’s sight.  She worried that they didn’t see themselves as equal either. Anna’s shoulders dipped with the weight of worry and love she felt for these boys and girls. She worried that she had the skills to show them why reading, writing, learning, and God were so important. She wanted them to know the Bible tells us that God made all men and women in God’s image. Anna wanted her students to know that the most important lesson is that we love each other.

Mostly, Anna prayed that her students would learn that even when the world tells them otherwise, that Jesus tells us to treat each other the way we want to be treated. Maybe if Anna’s students treat others the way they wanted to be treated that soon the world would treat them that way as well. Anna knew that following God was far more important than the noise of the world. After all, she had been told for years that she couldn’t make a difference being black and a woman. She hoped that with her firm persistence, following the love of Jesus, and the passage of time that she was showing that each of us makes a difference in our own way just because we are children of God.

As Anna neared her destination, she gave thanks to God for this time in prayer on her journey. Each step was a prayer that reaffirmed her faith and relationship with God. She felt strengthened by this time to serve her community. Her walks each day gave her that time to pray and reflect on where she was called to go.  As she headed off to deliver the clothes, food, and books she gathered for her flock, she smiled. Today was going to be a good day.

-  Anna Fitch Courie

Richard Hooker

Dr. James Cone, father of Black Liberation Theology, suggests that “theology is loving God with the mind.” It is easy to dismiss Richard Hooker’s theologizing as aloof, ivory-tower naval-gazing; but, it is important to note that loving God with our hearts, souls, and minds is a command straight out of the Gospels. The practice of theological scholarship is important to the life of the Church and, while its importance can be taken to the extreme (as with all things), it provides the necessary framework to wrestle with incredibly challenging questions. His commitment to the field of theology impressed King James (of the King James Bible fame), who said of Hooker, “I observe there is in Mr. Hooker no affected language; but a grave, comprehensive, clear manifestation of reason, and that backed with the authority of the Scriptures, the fathers and schoolmen, and with all law both sacred and civil.”

Richard Hooker did Anglican theology in a time of fierce religious division. Using the scriptures and Christian tradition, Hooker was able to weave together a system of faith that graciously navigated the Via Media between the excesses of Roman Catholicism and the austerity of continental Reformation Christianity. He allowed the Sacraments, the Church Mothers and Fathers, and Christian tradition to speak to a new age of Christians who were asking incredibly deep questions about how their age-old faith was going to interact with a world exploding in knowledge and size and scope. His Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie has a reach beyond Anglicanism into the field of English prose and political theory. Here is a real, flesh-and-blood man dedicated to a theology that improves the world.

Episcopalians are who we are, people who weave the richness of the Christian tradition into conversation with the real world around us, in no small part due to Richard Hooker. His system of scripture, tradition, and reason creates a framework of faith that is solid at its core and soft at its edges. Our faith is firm enough to affirm the ancient, Trinitarian faith, but soft enough to invite, include, celebrate, and be transformed by the presence of those of us formally closed out of the life of the Church – people of color, women, queer, and trans people, native and immigrant people. While we may not have been on his mind, his system of faith provided the framework that allowed many of us to experience true freedom in Jesus Christ.

Richard Hooker might not be remembered for feeding and housing people on the margins, but his system of faith nourishes and provides spiritual shelter for many, with the potential to add many more, for there is “plenty good room” in the Kingdom.

-  Marcus Halley

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421 comments on “Anna Alexander vs. Richard Hooker”

  1. Good Morning From Petoskey Michigan - For fun anyone who posts please put what city, state, province, country etc you are from - just to see how far Lentmadness reaches around the world!

      1. I've been to Belize three times and am thinking of taking my family after Christmas... any suggestions for places to go? 🙂

    4. Just down the raid in Lawton, MI, 4 miles south of Paw Paw (the town so nice they named it twice), and about 18 miles west of Kalamazoo.

    8. Another Good Morning from Petoskey, Michigan! It's a small town, but we all do Lent Madness?!
      Sign in Petoskey!
      I am voting for the man from Exeter this morning, and his legacy of thought.

    9. Vancouver, BC.
      A tough choice today. Richard Hooker did so much for the Anglican Church. But he has a big fancy statue and lots of recognition already, so my vote is for Anna.

    11. From Elkhart, IN but crrently in Botesdale, England in the midst of a pilgrimage to Walsingham.

    12. This one is hard to.
      I like Anna, but I was taught with Faith there is no worry. I see Hooker as a ‘Ritualist’ ‍♀️❤️

    13. Central Point, OR—the amazing Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon. Originally from the Bay Area of California—62 years.

    25. I'm in Surprise, Arizona spreading Lent Madness to the Presbyterian Church where I work in Sun City West!

    26. Grand idea! I enjoyed reading about the diverse Anglican community that Richard Hooker helped form.
      But I voted for Anna

    29. This is a close one.. Anna Thanks for all your hard work and i am voting from South Australia and i want to thank everyone for making this all possible

    30. I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (just go north from Petroskey, cross the border, and turn left), and I'm pulling for Richard Hooker because he was the one who said God doesn't sit around waiting to pounce on us when we louse stuff up, but He lovingly takes our mistakes and errors and uses them for good. (Those aren't his words - they were much more poetic - but that's the gist.

    31. I live in Altadena, California, but I am responding from the Emerald Princess cruise ship, just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on a cruise that began in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and went around the southern tip of South America.

  2. We would not be the people we are without Richard Hooker and his works of theology. And I'll not limit that statement to Episcopalians.

    2. Hear, hear! He was instrumental in bringing both the KJV and the BCP to light. Now let's make him an MVP!!

    3. Amen! (from Lake Zurich IL) Richard's 3-legged stool is basically why I am an Episcopalian and no longer a Roman Catholic. God gave me a brain and expects me to use right reason.

      1. It's why I'm an Episcopalian instead of a Baptist, as I was raised. Go brains!
        Freehold, NJ

        1. "Baptists often become Episcopalians. Episcopalians rarely become Baptists." ~ Jan Karon in one of her Mitford series of novels

          I grew up Baptist because that's what the neighbors who took me to Sunday School & church were. After high school I found the Episcopal Church and fell in love with liturgical worship & the BCP1979.

          I've since had my membership at four parishes in three dioceses. One of them twice and when I moved back home to Portland in 2013 it felt like coming home more than in any other way to come back to the Cathedral.

          (Trinity Cathedral, Portland, the oldest parish in the Norhwestern United States and seat of the Bishop of the Diocese of Oregon. Though I live in the once pricey suburbs because of now unaffordable urban rent.)

      3. I believe Thomas Aquinas would be comfortable on Richard's stool. Although I am considering converting to the Episcopal tradition because the Roman Catholic Church has lost one of it's legs.

      4. My journey as well, Kathleen. Greetings from San Marino, CA (just south of Pasadena, home of the Tournament of Roses Parade)

    4. Perhaps it is fitting that at this time in our nation's history, someone named "Hooker" is deep in the running to win the Golden Halo.

      3. Thanks for a good laugh. I voted for Richard, but not exactly for that reason. It was a difficult choice, but he is was so critical to the formation of our faith. I currently reside in Salem, OR.

    5. I was in a pickle- Just did root canal, not in a great mood. My heart and mind were in coflict on these two, but, I made the decision to go against the random number generator and vote Hooker. St Pete, FL, born in Duluth, they are in the frozen four- Yea Bulldogs

    6. I'm from Chicago's western suburbs, and voted for Anna, but am deeply moved by the description of Richard Hooker's theology - hard at its core, but soft and inviting at the edges - whatever branch of Christianity we embrace, that seems a good aim for our various expressions of our faith.

  3. I voted for Anna today, in honor of who she was, the work she did, and also in honor of Harriet Bedell, who should have gotten The Golden Halo in 2014! (IMO) #GoAnna #GoHarriet

      1. Was cheering with Ann & Dianna !
        Anna Alexander !
        & seconding mention of Harriet Bedell
        #GoAnna (#GoHarriet)

  5. "Theology is loving God with the mind." Tho' Anna touched many individuals, Richard helped build the foundation for millions of Anglicans all over the world.

    1. It was a hard choice but I think Richard has helped the Anglican/Episcopal people to accept what they learn through reason and science.
      From Kincumber, Central NSW Coast, Australia

    2. In high school I had a classmate, Annapolis-bound, who said his crowning ambition was to command a naval destroyer and sail the seas destroying navels.

  7. Richard Hooker ... and not being dismissive of his “naval [sic] gazing.” If he was looking out to sea for ships, I’m certain he “saw three ships coming sailing”....

  11. While Presiding Bishop Curry is too wise to weigh in on Lent Madness, he did preach at least four times this year using Anna Alexander is an example of holiness of life and amazing perseverance against obstacles in transforming her community with Jesus and the ABCs. Snippets of three of those sermons are in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibqvwg2kie8

    Richard Hooker is a giant of Anglican theology, but I voted for Anna whose lived faith inspires me as she cared for those who in the words of one student now deceased, "They would have gone by the wayside if not for her."

    1. Well said. Hooker's 3-legged stool brought me to the Episcopal Church and keeps me in the fold, but Anna Alexander is a hidden jewel to many of us.

      Wilmington NC

  12. I adore Anna Alexander, but I am feeling so Via Media right now that I had to vote for Richard Hooker after being ordered by my new bishop to observe Passion Sunday rather than Palm Sunday. Everything Jesus said and did after his entry in Jerusalem tells me that's not right but letting people follow what God puts in their hearts is.

    1. Well as someone mentioned I chose to be an Episcopalian because God gave me a brain and America gave me freedom to chose. It was never because of any thing said or done by the Archbishop or Presiding Bishop or priest ( I have been embarrassed by all at times)!
      I chose the place I found loving Christian hearts! Less politics please!!!!!

      2. Thank you, Maria. My experience as well. From beautiful, snowy Estes Park, Colorado!

  14. First year in Lent Madness - thanks for putting together such a fantastic event!

    Jordan - Diocese of Alabama

  15. Frederick, Colorado. I voted for Richard Booker this morning, in a vote for scripture, tradition and reason, the last of which is too often pushed aside in modern Christianity.

  17. AS a deacon, I must vote for Anna. I love ya, Richard, and thanks for your wisdom, but Anna it has to be

    1. Also a deacon, and my heart is with Anna. But my vote is for Richard Hooker because, if not for him, I might not have found a home in the Episcopal Church. His impact on the church was so huge, and gave us a way to navigate the changes of this earthly life and still be rooted in faith. Go Richard all the way!

  18. All honor to Anna, but my vote today goes to Richard Hooker. When I was growing up, questions were not always treated desirable in my household, and I was full of questions. A few decades later, I happened on Transfiguration in Dallas, TX, which the rector, Terence Roper, was forming into a teaching parish. The result was that I studied theology at the University of Dallas and, later, at Perkins (SMU.) In neither university was academic theology strictly an ivory tower experience, and I'm grateful to all under whom and with whom I studied. Thanks to Richard Hooker, TCR, UD, SMU, and all others who required that I not leave my brain at the door.

      1. Addendum: After retirement, my husband and I bought and are restoring a historic house in Galveston, TX. Our parish, Trinity, has wonderful formation/Christian education programs for all ages, and the preaching is superb. Thought informs our prayer, and we enjoy putting both into action.

    2. I was a Meadows major, Dedman minor,& Perkins neighbor in Martin Hall who often paid to lunch at the Refrectory once I found out the Seminary had their own chef cooking real food yet charged less than the dining hall.

      #PonyUp

      Jan of Portland, OR
      SMU '13
      Peruna is my mascot!

      1. Ugh something went wrong with my links and one appears to have not gotten closed right, and there is no edit button. Ugh. Sigh.

      2. Miss Jan, my new techno-guru, I know how to do hyperlinks on Word; how do I do it elsewhere??

  19. This is the most difficult choice yet for me. I love the Via Media and the Episcopal theology that owes so much to Richard Hooker. Having grown up a female in the South (although not African American), I can vividly imagine what oppression Anna faced and, from all accounts, cheerfully battled through love, charity, and education. Both are worthy of the Golden Halo. Perhaps it is because I feel closer in time and location that I ultimately voted for Anna today.

    Huntsville, AL

    1. I also feel that this was the most difficult choice. Michelle, I understand completely why you decided to vote for Anna but my own roots and life path compelled me to vote for Richard Hooker. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

  22. Good morning from Charlotte NC, in the diocese of North Carolina, which gladly and proudly offered the great blessing that is Michael Curry to the larger church.

    Every challenge and struggle that the Episcopal church has navigated has been guided by the brilliance of Richard Hooker. As a married gay priest, I would be neither of thosr things without the blessing of reason through which to interpret scripture and tradition. Without Hooker, we would likely be stuck in time, like our Roman siblings in Christ. Regardless of the dryness of his writing, the core of it is the majestic sweetness of our Savior's embracing love.

  23. Richard because without his work where would we be, even Anna may have been cast aside.
    Diocese of Virginia

  24. Hooker -- a great figure in the history of our church, without a doubt, but he's been honored for several centuries. Alexander -- until recently, not so much. It's her turn.

  25. A very difficult one today. Anna taught what Jesus taught, the greatest commandment, “LOVE”.
    Both are so deserving of a halo.

  26. Hard choice....but without Richard we would be Roman....or maybe Baptist. Scripture without reason, Tradition without Scripture....it only works with all 3 legs on the stool. Space coast of Florida...Titusville, FL.

  29. Am I the only Episcopalian here who is just kinda tired of hearing about the 3-legged stool? Anna: for persisting.

    1. Am I the only Episcopalian here who is just kinda tired of hearing about the 3-legged stool? Anna: for persisting. Chicagoland.

      1. Greetings from the northern tip of Mississippi. This is my first year also with Lenten Madness, and am so appreciative of all the lessons and comments. I too was formerly a Roman Catholic, and for the past 18 years have been enjoying the Episcopal Way, and have felt it’s the best of both worlds. Hooker’s stool presents a profound phenomen to me personally. Saying that, I’m still in a quandry of whom to vote for. I agree, both are winners. I was very impressed with the Deaconess, and grateful for Hooker’s teaching. Heart for her, mind for him!?! Guess it’s for her.

  30. My heart is with Anna but my head is with Richard. Via Media was instrumental in my crossing over to the Episcopal Church from the Catholic Church and is important to me today. Voting with my head today, but tomorrow - we will see!

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