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”
Baptized Russian Orthodox, confirmed Episcopalian. It's Richard Hooker for me in York, PA.
Hampton,VA here and a vote for Richard Hooker.
I was hoping for Esther's winning the Golden Halo. It seemed fitting for someone dispossessed in these days. "And who knows but that you have come to your ... position for such a time as this?" speaks to me in these days.
So Anna is a wonderful example of faith in action; Richard created a framework for faith & discussions - both agreements & disagreements - for many of us in the modern age.
I had to vote for Richard Hooker.
Gail from Newburyport, MA (north of Boston)
Richard Hooker (nice job Marcus Halley)! From a northern suburb of the Twin Cities, MN.
Seattle, Washington
I voted for Anna and added Richard to my reading list! As Richard sought to bridge a divide between " the excesses of Roman Catholicism and the austerity of continental Reformation Christianity" these times need a different bridge. I think Anna is worthy part of that bridge that is being built now.
PS. Celebrity Blogger: I've been to Brunswick, GA. Why no mention of the alligators?
Difficult choice, today. I went for Richard, however will celebrate whoever moves forward.
Kailua, Hawaii
Now in Springfield, MA, Diocese of Western Mass. This was the most difficult of choices for me ! However, I can only express my gratitude for all the comments about these two saints. I learned so much from them and the various links posted. Its been a joy but it has not really made the choice easier! After thrashing about all day - mentally, my votes goes to Anna . The life she lived was fueled by a faith which told her God was alive in her actions and that she and every person she touched was loved . That is a powerful message for us today.
Anne Lane
Port Perry Ontario Canada
Fort Collins, Colorado.
Voted for Hooker.
Ocean City, Maryland
Flew today from vacation in Kona, Hawaii to home in Earlysville, Virginia.
I’m voting Anna all the way.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Voted for Anna. Enjoyed learning about them all.
Voted for Anna, because, "Each step was a prayer that reaffirmed her faith and relationship with God." I have often felt this while walking with family on Cape Cod, MA. (Thank you, Anna C.) I also liked the way she lived out her faith by teaching people to read.
Agree with Anna, challenging choice for role model for us all.
Tiburon California
From New York City
I think that love trumps knowledge - didn't St Paul say something like that?
I went for Anna
Orlando, Florida. Anna for me - soft spot for the Southern heart, even though I'm a transplant.
St. Thomas' Episcopal, Wharton, TX. Incredibly difficult choices. All 32 have been exceptional.
I'm with Mandy Rose! My vote is for Deaconess Alexander. She served with Fearless Faith & Boundless Love! Right here in River City:
Brunswick Georgia US
Madison, CT, USA
Tough choices, I like to vote for women because we seem to be under appreciated in most areas of life, But, I went with Richard because I’m so grateful for the Anglican traditions and inclusion through love for all,
Sparks, Maryland.
Hooker for me.
Wyandotte, OK but a Texan by birth & that is where my heart is. I was torn b/w these 2 but decided on the theologian. Formally Baptist but have been Episcpalian since 1980. His theories are the reasons why.
Greetings from Messiah Church Santa Ana CA.
Voting from Lake Jackson, Texas for Richard Hooker!
Bucks County, PA, Hooker and his sturdy yet adaptable stool for me. Really disappointed that Esther is not a finalist, though.
Good evening from Titusville, Florida. New to Lent Madness this year, but hooked! Tough choice tonight.
Greetings from central New Jersey! If you look at the map, my town is where the land dips in - like a waist - above the Sandy Hook beach, and the church I serve is in the Somerset Hills. While I love the via media of the Episcopal Church as well as the three-legged stool (I wouldn't be here otherwise), I must vote for Anna because I am a deacon, too, and even more important - I pray during my commute every day, like she did!
Magnolia, Mississippi
A blessed Holy Week to all you Lent Madness addicts.
The Rev. Mr. Hooker beat Phocas and I really like Phocas, so I think I will focus my vote on Deaconess Anna Alexander today and on Maria Skobtsova tomorrow.
Also, I spent too much time stepping on and off of a stool shelving books (and shifting books between shelves when necessary which more often than not it was) in one of the libraries at Trinity Cathedral, Portland, on my day off of work Monday to be favorably disposed even to metaphorical stools today.
(Yes, libraries plural, and the minimum number of them is at least four, and the maximum number depends on your definition of a library.)
Northwestern Ontario
Ljungby, Sweden - voting for Anna!
Good evening. Anna Alexander today. Voting from the Diocese of Florida. North Florida