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.
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.
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421 comments on “Anna Alexander vs. Richard Hooker”
New Mexico
Another tough decision. Even though Richard’s influence is much more far reaching, I voted for Anna to honor the “little guy” who takes small steps to make change in people’s lives.
This is my first year to participate in Lent Madness. I enjoyed it; even the kitsch.
Temple,TX
Greetings from Mountain View, CA..the heart of Silicon Valley. I went with Hooker today, but I'm rooting for Maria for the big win!
Another hard decision to make from Cumberland, Rhode Island.
Presently in Alberta Canada: in the past from Yukon, Nunavut Canada, UK, Spain and Cyprus! Anna has my heart, Richard has my head, and I am going with my heart. Three legged stools are fine but at some point it is good to watch someone get up off it and go do something great!
Epic comment!
No matter if Anna or Maria wins the halo, this comment screams to be on the mug!
I have to relate this quick story. As I was updating our Lent Madness poster at church this Sunday, the middle schoolers were gathering around, excited to see who was advancing. "I hope Peter wins!" "He can't - Esther knocked him out." "Oh no! My bracket is busted!!" "Yay for Queen Esther!" "Who's this Maria Sko...stoko...how do you even pronounce her name?!?" It was so fun to hear their enthusiasm. Thanks SEC for making learning about saints fun!
Marcus Halley, your write-up on Richard Hooker tipped me over to him. "...[T]heology is loving God with the mind" plus "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." Such as Anna Alexander.
The balance and breadth that make me love the Episcopal Church. Thank you.
(writing from Los Angeles, California): I admire Deaconess Alexander deeply--but my vote today goes to Richard Hooker, because (as his blogger says) he laid the groundwork for the (eventual but inevitable) inclusion of ALL people in our household of faith. Scripture--Tradition--Reason: this balance gives us the freedom to expand our God-given mind to embrace what our God-given heart already knows. God loves the world, and God loves us all, equally.
My family will spend Easter Sunday at All Saints By-The-Sea in Austin while visiting our son. A home away from home.
I voted for Anna! I live in Atlanta, Georgia, but also claim Australia & Russia as former homes 🙂
St. Luke’s Episcopal, Auburn, California.
Rainy Portland Oregon but currently vacationing in sunny Las Vegas. I’m voting for Anna. Somehow she captured my heart and I feel a deep connection with her.
The video posted of Anna is absolutely excellent. Very well done. Surely, it will be shown at convention. I too have lived in the south and have spent time with that oppressive humidity, billions of gnats/no see-ums and air so heavy you have to "go up a club". Thank God Anna was there, in that place, at that time and answered her call! What an example she is of what one person can do. She couldn't have done it, but for Richard Hooker. The same goes for women priests--who are still struggling, for rector-ships. The same goes for gay clergy. The same goes for all of us, for as far as I know we are still holding on to remain in the Anglican Communion with several dioceses suing for property and endowments. Certain bishops are not welcome at Lambeth. Richard Hooker needs some good press. Anna will be made well known, for her time has come. Marcus Halley was so eloquent, so profound, he made me cry. We all need to know Richard Hooker. Online there is a little book called "A Brief History of the Book of Common Prayer". Free, right there, where you can read it in a couple hours. It's best read with a British accent. It prints too. Imagine Congress writing the BCP. I voted for Richard.
From Lewes, DE. Living in Richmond, VA and Myrtle Beach, SC
I made a little mistake. It's "A SHORT History of the Book of Common Prayer". By the Reverend William Reed Huntington, D.D., D.C.L. Rector of Grace, N.Y. Copyright 1893
by Thomas Whittaker.
Judy, you wrote my thoughts....Marcus made me cry, & reading your words evoked the same emotions of gratitude I have for Richard Hooker, Anna, Maria---indeed, all the amazingly heroic & inspirational men & women of this year's Lent Madness. I remember so vividly when Barbara Harris was consecrated the first woman bishop of the ECUSA---my parish, St. John's, Beverly Farms, MA, was thrilled. Over the decades, I have thought with fond love & gratitude of the parishes & rectors & choir directors who have sustained me. From Christ Church, Los Altos, CA, to St. John's, to St. Andrew's, Encinitas, CA, & now St. Paul's, Daphne, AL, these loving, inclusive, accepting, wise, & humorous parishes welcome all. Thirty-five years ago, at a meeting at St. Bede's, Menlo Park, CA, a large poster of Christ on the Cross, in all its suffering & pain, had the caption : "Jesus Christ died to take away your sins, not your mind"....this is our church. My vote has to go to Richard Hooker, but my love is for all.
I finally decided that Hooker made Anna's work possible. But it was not an easy choice. Native of Winthrop MA, now in Copperopolis CA after many years in San Jose CA.
Voting for Anna-from-Georgia, a most amazing woman!
Laura-from-Georgia
While Anna was more "hands on" in working out her faith, Richard has had a lasting impact that goes way beyond his life. In a time of extremism, his Via Media speaks a loud voice in this ranting world.
Massachusetts.
Pasadena California, block from the Rose Parade. Someone had to take the time and energy to teach Mr. Hooker to read. Miss Alexander taught people how to read Mr. Hooker's work. Teaching is the platform for everything else. His three lagged stole stands upon her teaching so she wins. His stool would fall in the dust if teachers like Miss Alexander didn't teach people to read.
Hi from Los Angeles, California in the United States.
This is a tough choice. I resonate with the intimacy of loving service, one person to one person, for I think that is where all service begin. Thus I regard Anna Alexander highly. On the other hand, I fled to the Episcopal Church from the intellectual poverty of a church which had effectively abandoned tradition and cut its ties with history. The Episcopal Church has helped me immensely, and I credit that to theologians such as Hooker.
Still rolling this one around in my heart..............
The Rev. Halley makes a compelling case in a challenging matchup.
No question - both are worthy. But the work Richard did, though subtle to our eyes, is important. To my own surprise, I'm going with Richard.
Seattle, Upper Left-Corner.
Once again, I must say how happy I am that this Lenten Madness has lead me to Rev. Marcus Halley. Please check his website (click on his name at he end of Richard Hooker's bio.) He is a teacher to listen to.
Marcus Halley for the Golden Halo! What a magnificent summation. I am for Hooker all the way (definitely the foundation of the Church I love) but even if not an adherent, Marcus Halley would have convinced me. I had tears in my eyes as I finished reading. I am printing that to put in my Prayer Book. And I will pray that Marcus Halley has a long and illustrious life and that he keeps writing and publishing.
For those who have enjoyed Marcus Halley's writing -
please note that he is the author for Forward Day by Day meditations for April!
I'm with you Pilgrim Gregory. I think Marcus Halley is brilliant and inspiring. I am a follower now!
Two amazing people. I had trouble deciding. Had to go with Hooker because of his impact on me. Had never heard of Anna before this year. What a remarkable woman! A great example to us all.
Washington, DC
Love all the comments. I am leaning toward Richard, but will wait to vote until later in the day. I live on Whidbey Island in Washington State and came here via New Mexico, the other Washington, Indiana, and Kansas (in reverse order.) I came to the Episcopal Church here via the Catholic Church and the Mennonite Church and attempt to incorporate them all into my life.
Voting throughout Lent from Spring, Texas, along with many friends from Trinity Episcopal in The Woodlands, Texas. I have voted for Anna through every bracket, and against Richard through every bracket; however, today, due to the writing of Marcus Halley, I have cast my second to the last Lent Madness vote for Richard Hooker.
From Gladwin, Michigan. A challenging decision indeed, but I chose Mr. Hooker because he provided the framework for all of us to become Miss Alexander.
Wantagh, New York (Long Island)
Good afternoon from Madison, NJ, home of Drew University, just west of New York City. As John Wesley is my spiritual father (I'm a cradle-and adult-choice-Methodist) so is Richard Hooker my grandfather in the faith. (See Methodist quadrilateral) Born at Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC, grew up in VA, felt drawn to NYC, now an 80-year-old retired Elder and hospital chaplain. Thanks to all of you who inspire and inform me every year, as I still try to learn what comes next in God's intention is for me.
Thank you for two excellent write ups. It is much closer than I expected this contest to be. I am so pleased to have encountered Anna, and hugely admiring of her. Her courage, determination and commitment deserve much wider recognition. Yet I voted for Richard Hi who laid the foundations for a church broad enough to welcome all, even if it requires an Anna to help us recognise how much wider we need to fling the doors. Theology is loving God with the mind resonates for me.
Missed the opening post. Norwich, England.
Montgomery, AL
Again this year, I have learned so much about holy men and women (and an angel).
Thank you, SEC, all celebrity bloggers and LM voters who share their thoughts and wisdom.