For most of July, I was on an extended trip to England: partly for research, partly for vacation, and partly to prepare for my fall class on Jane Austen. As part of the latter, I not only traveled to a number of Jane Austen sites (Chawton, Winchester, Bath, Southampton), but I also got to attend the big Jane Austen conference, celebrating her 250th birthday. Called Global Austen, the conference brought scholars together from truly around the world and proved that, now as much as ever, Austen still has much to say to her readers.

July 18 marked the anniversary of Austen’s death, so there were commemorations for that as well at her grave in Winchester Cathedral. Her memorial has long been controversial because her family made no mention of her writing, only of her father and of her faith (as evidenced by her personal characteristics), though it does refer “the extraordinary endowments of her mind” (which perhaps should count for something).

Her father, of course, was an Anglican clergyman. So were several of her relatives, including one of her brothers. She grew up in a parsonage–which her family did not leave until her father’s retirement when Austen was 25. And we can tell she grew up as a “PK” in the way she presents clergymen in her novels, particularly a number of pretty odious ones. For me, the presentation of Mr. Collins and his ilk shows someone who completely understands all the foibles of Christian community, including at its most ridiculous.

Though Austen’s presentation of faith isn’t flashy in the novels–no more than the Anglicanism of her time was–Austen’s vision is a deeply moral one. Her novels are not really “rom-coms” but investigations of an economic system that disadvantaged women profoundly (and wasn’t great for the men in many ways either, especially if they weren’t the oldest son). Thus, her novels evince a critique of her society and of the literature that came before her, particularly revolutionizing the novel by rejecting the sexual double standard (almost universally accepted in 18th century literature) and by insisting that the heroes and heroines should both be virtuous. Then, too, she also had a go at slavery and at inheritance and coverture. And that’s not even all.

Another important contribution of Austen’s work is that she asks her leading characters to be self-reflective, to grow as people, perhaps even to suffer. It’s why I find the prayers that she wrote so heartening. Though Austen’s letters (at least the ones that survive) can be tart and sarcastic, her prayers show that she knows that about herself. Funnily, some critics can’t understand how the two kinds of texts go together; for me, I can’t see how they don’t. Austen is quite cognizant of her own failings.

But it’s more than just personal examination: Jane Austen’s endurance as a writer comes in part because she understands a society that knew what to say “with our Lips” but didn’t also follow that with “our Hearts.” That sounds remarkably like today.

As does her petition for gratitude with its recognition that without “a thankful sense of the Blessings in which we live,” we may become “discontent” or “indifferen[t].” Her questions of self-examination are still right on target, along with the notion that only an active exercise of faith can help us guard against being “Christians only in name.” That feels on target, too.

The emergence of Austen as a global brand–and let me tell you, there is a LOT of merch you can buy, adaptations being constantly produced, tours and teas and Regency balls–has obscured in many ways the fundamental seriousness that underlaid her comedic eye. Austen’s narratives are powerful and transformative. To read them as warm and cozy misses the point. Indeed, we have mostly forgotten the way that Austen’s works changed the novel itself as a genre as well as upended the expectations of men and women. That her critique grew out of her faith is a reason to continue to celebrate her work for many years to come–and to cultivate lives where words and heart are the same.

Evening Prayer by Jane Austen

Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our Hearts, as with our Lips. Thou art every where present, from Thee no secret can be hid; may the knowledge of this, teach us to fix our Thoughts on Thee, with Reverence & Devotion that we pray not in vain.—

Look with Mercy on the Sins we have this day committed, & in Mercy make us feel them deeply, that our Repentance may be sincere, and our Resolutions stedfast of endeavouring against the commission of such in future.—Teach us to understand the sinfulness of our own Hearts, and bring to our knowledge every fault of Temper and every evil Habit in which we may have indulged to the dis-comfort of our fellow-creatures, and the danger of our own Souls.—May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing Thoughts, words and Actions during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of Evil. Have we thought irreverently of Thee, have we dis-obeyed thy Commandments, have we neglected any known Duty, or willingly given pain to any human Being?—Incline us to ask our Hearts these questions Oh! God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by Pride or Vanity.

Give us a thankful sense of the Blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our Lot; that we may not deserve to lose them by Discontent or Indifference.

Be Gracious to our Necessities, and guard us, and all we love, from Evil this night. May the sick and afflicted be now, & ever thy care; and heartily do we pray for the safety of all that travel by Land or by Sea, for the comfort & protection of the Orphan &Widow, & that thy pity may be shewn, upon all Captives & Prisoners.

Above all other blessings Oh! God, for ourselves, & our fellowcreatures, we implore Thee to quicken our sense of thy Mercy in the redemption of the World, of the Value of that Holy Religion in which we have been brought up, that we may not, by our own neglect, throwaway the Salvation Thou hast given us, nor be Christians only in name.—Hear us Almighty God, for His sake who has redeemed us, & taught us thus to pray.—Words of the Lord’s Prayer to end.