The Brontës and Religion

by Marianne Thormählen

This is the first full-length study of religion in the fiction of the Brontës. Drawing on extensive knowledge of the Anglican church in the nineteenth century, Marianne Thormählen shows how the Brontës' familiarity with the contemporary debates on doctrinal, ethical and ecclesiastical issues informs their novels. Divided into four parts, the book examines denominations, doctrines, ethics and clerics in the Brontës' work. Lucid and vigorously written, it will open up new perspectives for Brontë specialists and enthusiasts alike on a fundamental aspect of the novels greatly neglected in recent decades.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books

300 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 1995

Reviews

[Kj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far and away the most useful resource for anyone interested in the theological context of the Brontes' fiction. The only text of its kind when published in 1999, Thormahlen's book has been followed by a decade of renewed (or new?) interest in the relationship between Christianity and the Brontes' fiction. Still, Thormahlen's book is the best one-stop text to refresh any Bronte reader's memory of, or more significantly,introduce for the first time, the significance Christian doctrine, church policy, theological discussion, and religious controversy played in the lives of the Bronte family (and most English homes of the 19th century) and how the Brontes' fiction critiques, converses with and commends the spiritual concerns of the Church of England ca. 1815-1850. Thormahlen's book goes a long way to recalibrating what has been some sixty years of misreading the religious content of the Brontes' fiction that saw their criticism of religous hypocrisy as rejection of Christianity.

[Lucinda Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very impressed with this book: well, that is obvious from the star rating.
The issue of the various tendencies in the church in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and their effect on the sisters, is dealt with masterfully and throws a light on their approach to spiritual matters in their writings.
I was fascinated to read that Charlotte, as well as Anne, was a believer in Universal Salvation. It may well have been that Emily was too, but did not commit that belief to her correspondence.
I was also intrigued in the analysis of the influence of the demonic on Heathcliff, and also, on the influence in his creation by the gothic work, 'The Confessions of a Justified Sinner.'
An excellent work. It makes me realise how mistaken are the simplistic analyses of the work of the Bronte sisters or indeed, of their religious convictions.

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful marriage of historiography and literary/religious sensitivity- Thormahlen draws out the nuances of 19th century British Christianity very nicely