Born in Brighton, England, Hocken was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Northampton in 1964.
He obtained permission to leave the country in order to join the Mother of God Community, Washington DC, United States, where he was an active member between 1976 and 1996.
In 1984, he received his PhD for his research on the history of charismatic renewal from the University of Birmingham, England.
Hocken was active in the charismatic movement from 1971 on and served as Executive Secretary of the Society for Pentecostal Studies from 1988 to 1997.
He wrote a wide range of books on Charismatic Renewal, Christian unity and Messianic Judaism.