Jane Austen and Fashionable Goodness

Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England has arrived at our house.

It’s been a tussle to beat my Jane Austen fan (also known as a “Janite“) husband to the new book recently published by Brenda S. Cox.

Cox is a Janeite scholar and a regular contributor to the Jane Austen’s World website.

This nonfiction book is designed for those interested in Jane Austen’s world, the church, and how Christianity in the Anglican church influenced the rest of 19th-century England.

What does the title mean–Fashionable Goodness?

I assumed the title meant behaving properly and with good manners–because that’s what society expected of someone wearing the label “Christian.”

You know. “Be nice.”

Cox’s answer was more nuanced:

During Jane Austen’s time, it was fashionable to attend church and pretend to be “good.” But the Prince Regent and others had also made immorality fashionable.

As one of the most socially influential Christian during Austen’s life, [William Wilberforce] made one of his goals to reform the “manners” of England.

[Mansfield Park‘s] Edmund Bertram explained “manners” meant behavior, how people acted based on their religious principles. When the era’s influencers promoted moral behavior, society improved.

Cox believes Austen’s novels, written between 1790 and her death in 1817 (at the age of 41), promoted moral behavior by their example.

What did Cox learn about Jane Austen while writing the nonfiction book?

Like our mutual friend Rachel Dodge, Cox recognized how deeply Austen’s faith affected her life and novels.

Austen knew, and aptly described, the characters and circumstances of the clerics found in her books.

Indeed, Austen drew on personal family experiences to describe several of her famous characters. Her father George was a Church of England cleric, as were her two brothers.

Cox examined and read many of Austen’s letters and, of course, her books, paying close attention to details.

“As her contemporaries said, she [Austen] expressed her [values] more through examples and not direct teaching.”

As an example, Cox spoke at this year’s Jane Austen Society of North America‘s annual gathering on the spiritual messages in Sense and Sensibility.

She explained,

I see Sense and Sensibility as a story contrasting the selfishness of characters like Willoughby with the self-denial, or selflessness, of characters like Elinor. Austen used words that had religious implications at the time, which we easily miss today.

Faith Words in Sense and Sensibility: A Story of Selfishness and Self-Denial

Was Austen’s faith susceptible to fashionable goodness?

Both Cox and Rachel Dodge believe Austen’s faith centered on the Bible. With a clergyman father and boys boarding in the Austen household to learn good moral character and education, they read the Book of Common Prayer together daily.

In addition, Austen attended church every Sunday. She commended her niece’s suitor for “acting more strictly up to the precepts of the New Testament than others.”

Subtle reflections of Austen’s faith and Christian values are in her novels.

While not preachy, Austen always promoted moral behavior in her books.

Cox explained:

She showed examples, both positive and negative. Readers of Pride and Prejudice, for instance, might learn to avoid quick judgments and ridicule of other people. We might instead want to be more like Jane Bennet, assuming the best of others until the worst is clearly proven.

Was the Church of England fashionably good?

The early 19th century when Austen lived was a time of change in the Church of England, presenting many challenges.

Some were addressed in Austen’s novels, particularly the lives of clergymen (perhaps like the hypocrisy of Mr. Elton and the absurdity of Mr. Collins). Cox examined the system of patronage and the different “levels” of influential clergymen.

It was also about this time that the Methodist movement and Wilberforce’s determination to end slavery took place. With Austen writing a type of comedy of manners, she didn’t examine the political issues of the day. (Though we did hear about the Napoleonic wars in Persuasion).

In writing a book describing the church experience during Austen’s life, Cox learned many surprising things.

I always thought of Sunday school as a time when children learn Bible stories. But in Austen’s England, it was a huge movement sweeping the country.

Sunday schools taught reading and other basic skills to hundreds of thousands of poor people, young and old. Education opened doors for them and transformed society.

In addition,

As I saw how the church was making an impact on the country and the world, I added Part 3 [to Fashionable Goodness]. It shows innovations ranging from the pioneering abolition of the slave trade to the Sunday school movement that educated millions of poor children and adults, breaking cycles of poverty and dependence.

Jane never mentioned them in her books, but she wrote during such a time.

Learning about the social background of the time enables the reader to more fully appreciate what a skillful, thoughtful, and witty writer Jane Austen was.

As Cox explained:

Fashionable Goodness is written for anyone who enjoys Jane Austen, from everyday fans like myself to scholars, from casual readers to dedicated Janeites.

They will better understand the church’s important role in her novels and her world. Readers will also more fully appreciate Austen’s characters, their values, and their conflicts.

Who is Brenda Cox?

Trained as a chemical engineer, Cox and her husband have four homeschooled children. Interested in learning languages, England’s Regency Era, and everything involving Jane Austen, she regularly writes at Jane Austen’s World and Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

You can learn more about Brenda Cox here.

Fashionable Goodness is also available here.

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