By Dan Read
Clergymen and their professional lives and nonprofessional loves are a large part of all of Austen’s novels. As the daughter of a clergyman and with several clergyman brothers, her own personal well-being depended significantly on family livings and preferments. So this book, subtitled “Christianity in Jane Austen’s England,” was immediately of interest and I bought a copy and have read it.
The main theme of the book is how the great evangelical awakening in England in the late 18th century and early 19th century made actually living out the values of Christianity become the mission of the Church. The Church of England was led by place holders and moldering in in perfunctory, obligatory services; during Austen’s time that changed. Blockheads like Mr. Collins could still get ahead by currying noble patronage; Mary Crawford could still (try to) insult Edmund by calling him a Methodist. But, serious pastoral care was on the ascendant (even the scalawag Henry Crawford could converse with knowledge on the subject). The growth of Methodism, in particular, and Toleration Acts that Parliament enacted no doubt spurred new life in the established Church. Cox tracks all these developments very carefully and concludes that the success of the awakening made England a better country, promoting as it must have done the end of slavery and the beginnings of political equality across classes.
This is a very well organized and meticulously researched book, but also one which Austenites will enjoy. Cox is not just a scholar of Christianity, she Is a good Austenite and constantly refers to the novels and how evolving Christianity and church practice is reflected in them. She also refers often to the letters and to prayers Jane wrote herself. As with many things pertaining to Austen, definitive conclusions about her own spiritual views are hard to draw. That she was a serious believing Christian admits no doubt, but where her sympathies lay with respect to the more zealous religious movements of her time is not so clear.
The book obviously focuses on church history and its impact on Jane Austen. It was fun to read for that alone. But, I also learned a great deal in addition to that about the growth of Methodism, early feminist and social equality movements in Britain, and the rise of the anti-slavery movement. Two thumbs up!