“Fashionable Goodness” and Jane Austen’s use of “faith words”

Here at Austen Variations, WE’RE ALL ABOUT FICTION, as you know. But occasionally one of us will feature a non-fiction book we think will be of interest to our readers. So today, I want to do just that! I want tell you about a fascinating book that I had the privilege of, in my own small way, helping to bring to publication. It’s by Brenda Cox, and it’s called Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England.  So why will you want to read it? Here’s what the publisher has to say about the book:

Jane Austen transports us to a world of elegance and upheaval, at the heart of which was her Anglican Church. Without understanding it, we miss much of the story. We’re left wondering…

• Why could the rector Mr. Collins afford to marry a poor woman, whereas a vicar like Mr. Elton could not?
• What conflicting religious duties led Elizabeth Bennet to turn down two very different proposals?
• Why did Austen’s early readers (unlike most today) adore Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price?
• What part did people of color, like Miss Lambe of Sanditon, play in English society?
• How did the Church impact people’s lives and the world?

Explore these questions and so much more in Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England.

“Brenda Cox’s scholarly, detailed work is a triumph. Easily read, helpful and accurate… Its many insights will enrich readers’ understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen’s novels and her life as a devout Christian.”—The Revd. Canon Michael Kenning, Vice-Chairman of the Jane Austen Society and former rector of Steventon

“Finally! Fashionable Goodness is the Jane Austen reference book that’s been missing from the bookshelves of every Austen fan and scholar.” — Rachel Dodge, bestselling author of Praying with Jane

To most of us, the workings of the nineteenth century Anglican Church are a mystery. And yet they were absolutely central to Jane Austen’s world, especially as a clergyman’s daughter. As it says above, without knowing something about her church and her personal faith, we miss a lot when we read Jane Austen’s stories. To quote Brenda, “The more facets of Austen’s era we understand, the better we can appreciate her novels.” So here’s an opportunity to be more than a surface reader, to delve a bit deeper and discover more about  Austen – the woman and her writings.

I first became involved with Fashionable Goodness when Brenda (whom I finally met in person at the recent AGM in Victoria!) asked me to beta read the book. Then much later, she contracted me to create the artwork for the cover!  I only wish I had had the chance to read Brenda’s book before I began writing JAFF. I would have had more insight into the Jane Austen novels my books are based on and been able to put in more of those accurate period details that help to solidly anchor a story in the past.

In fact, that’s how Brenda got started on this ambitious project in the first place! She wanted to write a Sense and Sensibility novel, including characters of active faith. But she couldn’t find a good source for the information she needed about the Church and the practice of Christianity in early nineteenth century England. Ultimately, she decided to write that source book herself.

St. Nicholas Church, Chawton

Fashionable Goodness is so packed with valuable material that it’s hard to adequately summarize here.  The first  third of the book – Jane Austen’s Church of England – basically explains who’s who and how things worked. Part Two  is entitled Challenges to Jane Austen’s Church of England. It covers some of the church’s weaknesses and efforts to overcome them. It also includes the situation of dissenters, people of color, and others outside the  mainstream faith at the time. Part Three – Outreach and Legacy of the Church in Austen’s England – tells about a few of the social and religious leaders of the day (John Newton, William Cowper, William Wilberforce, Hannah More) and efforts to eradicate some of the worst of social ills – how this significantly changed the world. Whenever possible, the author ties every issue back to  Jane Austen herself and/or incidents in her stories, giving us a familiar frame of reference for what we’re learning.

One thing that grabbed my interest in particular was the illuminating explanation of some key words in Austen’s stories – words her contemporaries would have understood but that were intended to convey more or different meanings than we are likely to give them credit for today. Language changes over time, impairing our ability to correctly understand things written long ago. I had run into that issue before myself with words like intercourse, saloon, housekeeper, intimate, and wonderful. (See my post: Them Are Stumbling Words) Brenda points out some words that have easily-overlooked faith implications. Quoting from a recent interview:

I spoke at this year’s JASNA AGM about the spiritual messages in Sense and Sensibility. I see S&S as a story contrasting the selfishness of characters like Willoughby with the self-denial, or selflessness, of characters like Elinor. Austen used words like “exertion” that had religious implications at the time. We easily miss those today, and I’ve enjoyed exploring what Austen was saying with those words.

Austen always promoted moral behavior. But she didn’t do it by preaching and telling people what to do. Instead, she showed examples, both positive and negative. Readers of Pride and Prejudice, for instance, might learn to avoid judging and ridiculing other people. We might instead want to be more like Jane Bennet, assuming the best of others until the worst is clearly proven. (This was a religious virtue called “candour” in Austen’s time).

Follow this link to Brenda’s website/blog, where you will find explanations for the religious overtones of these words  and others (duty, principle, serious). Or you can, of course, look for that section in the book! Even the word “manners” means a lot more than polite behavior at the table or on the dance floor.

Manners: Behavior, the way people act based on their religious or moral principles (good or bad). Examples: “The manners I speak of, might rather be called conduct, perhaps, the result of good principles” – Edmund Bertram, Mansfield Park, ch 9. “But in the central part of England there was surely some security for the existence even of a wife not beloved, in the laws of the land, and the manners of the age.” – Northanger Abbey, ch. 25 (Fashionable Goodness, ch. 3)

There’s so much more that I could tell you if time and space allowed. Let me just say that if you are a writer of Regency fiction, a history buff, or simply a Jane Austen fan who wants to more fully understand and appreciate her work, this book should be on your reading list. Why did Brenda call it Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England? I’ll leave you with her answer to that question:

During Austen’s time, it was fashionable to attend church and pretend to be “good.” But the Prince Regent and others had made immorality more fashionable than morality. William Wilberforce was probably the most influential Christian of Austen’s England. One of his goals was to reform the “manners” of England. Edmund Bertram explains that “manners” meant behavior, how people acted based on their religious principles. Wilberforce and many others promoted moral behavior–trying to make “goodness” fashionable in England. And amazingly, they succeeded! My book shows what “fashionable goodness” looked like in Regency England and what it came to look like by the Victorian era. And it explains how committed Christians like Wilberforce, Hannah More, and others brought that about. I think that Austen was part of that sweeping change, through her novels promoting moral behavior by example. 

Fashionable Goodness is now available in paperback and Kindle versions around the world. Purchase it at Jane Austen Books or Amazon (International link: Amazon)

About the Author: Brenda S. Cox, who has long loved Jane Austen, spent years researching Fashionable Goodness in America and England. A popular speaker at Jane Austen Society of North America meetings, she writes for their academic journal and the website Jane Austen’s World, as well as her own Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.