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Peter Leithart
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Jane Austen (Christian Encounters Series) Paperback – Illustrated, March 1, 2010

by Peter J. Leithart (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 110 ratings
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In this Christian Encounter Series biography, author Peter J. Leithart explores the life of Jane Austen, beloved author of such books as Pride and Prejudice and Emma.

Jane Austen is now what she never was in life, and what she would have been horrified to become—a literary celebrity.

Austen’s novels achieved a timelessness that makes them perennially appealing. Kipling and Churchill found solace in her writings during times of war and illness. Mark Twain had a love/hate relationship with her work. And then, there’s our celebrity culture: the television hit Pride and Prejudice, the award-winning 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, and all the remakes and prequels and sequels. Modern-day Jane Austen fans just can’t seem to leave her characters alone.

“Janeia” is the author’s term for the mania for all things Austen. This biography captures the varied sides of Austen’s character and places her Christian faith in a more balanced light and with less distortion than has been achieved previously. It is a delightful journey through a life spent making up stories that touched the lives of millions.

Jane Austen

“I was riveted by Leithart's excellent biography of Austen, the woman who profoundly influenced me to search for the universal truth in my novels. I was able to see the flesh-and-blood woman I've admired since my teens. Highly recommended for Janeites like me!”

--Colleen Coble, best-sellingauthor of The Lightkeeer's Daughter

Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Christian Encounters
  2. Print length
    192 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Thomas Nelson
  5. Publication date
    March 1, 2010
  6. Dimensions
    5 x 0.65 x 7 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1595553029
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1595553027
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter J. Leithart (PhD, University of Cambridge) is President of Theopolis Institute and serves as Teacher at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. He is the author of several books, including?The Kingdom and the Power, Creator: A Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1,?Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom, and?Baptism: A Guide from Life to Death.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Nelson; Illustrated edition (March 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595553029
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595553027
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.65 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 110 ratings

About the author

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Peter Leithart

Peter Leithart

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Peter J. Leithart is President of the Theopolis Institute (theopolisinstitute.com), a Christian study center and leadership training institute in Birmingham, Alabama.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
110 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A Reader and a Writer
5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful and Comprehensive
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2017
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Peter Leithart’s book gives a very interesting perspective on Austen’s life, focusing on her as “Jenny," with a childlike ability “to see through cant and pretense” and not take the world too seriously (chapter 5, kindle edition). He describes her Christian upbringing and regular religious practices (reading prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, attending church). He says that her Christian faith is hard for us to recognize because “her piety is so drastically understated; it is a reticent eighteenth-century Anglican piety” . . . (chapter 3). She does not use Evangelical language, which makes her faith harder for us to recognize, but it is still important. A helpful and comprehensive biography of a fascinating woman.
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Laura Hartness
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Brief Biography
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2013
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Since diving into the world of Austenesque fiction a few years ago, I've been meaning to take in a biography of my now-beloved Jane Austen. This month I enjoyed one that was a perfect little diversion in between my many Austen-themed titles. The Christian Encounters series offered by Thomas Nelson Publishers offers several books that profile prominent authors, politicians and Christian leaders throughout history. Jane is a perfect fit in this collection, and each title is very modest in size, 200 pages or less (including thorough end notes). So these brief volumes are a great way to get to know important figures without having to make a large time commitment.

Author Peter Leithart does a wonderful job in profiling the different aspects of Jane's life--her 18th to 19th Century world, her education, all of her writings, other life events, Christian faith, and of course her untimely death at the age of 41. He draws from many sources, both from Austen scholars and from the works of Jane herself. Throughout his highly researched content, Leithart presents the whole picture of Jane. She was most certainly a Christian, but she was not obnoxiously overt about her faith in her writing. He states, "Her Christian faith had always come to most explicit expression at the margins of life..." (pg. 137 or ~pos.1982 on Kindle)

While this Christian Encounters volume does read somewhat like a textbook, Leithart does find room to interject his own voice in the writing. It seems that he has mixed emotions when it comes to the plethora of Austen-related material in the world today, from all the cinematic adaptations to the many retellings of her work, a la Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Apparently, the closer the content comes to mimicking the voice of Austen, the more he appreciates the work. I would agree with him in this regard. He also seems to admire Austen's faith, how it affected her life and was so much a part of her, yet she wasn't excessively upfront about it.

My only minor complaint in this work was Leithart's insistence upon using the moniker "Jenny" for Miss Austen on many occasions. This is not an incorrect term, but she will always be my Jane, and I in no way think of her as a "Jenny". There's nothing wrong with the name, I just don't associate her with it. Just as I don't appreciate being called "Laurie" or "Lauren", as they aren't my names either. I'm sure a true Austen scholar could easily disabuse me of this idea, but I couldn't help but recoil every time this term was used.

So to my fellow Janeites, if you have yet to enjoy a Jane Austen biography, or if it has been a while since you have done so, I recommend Christian Encounters: Jane Austen to you. While it does examine her religious faith, it is far and away a true biography, also examining her as a woman, author, family member and friend. Without a significant commitment, you can certainly see who she was, and why she remains one of the most popular authors of all time.

***************
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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Oszkar
3.0 out of 5 stars Good read, bad "Christian encounter"
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2020
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If you are looking to strengthen your faith with a good biography, this is not that book.
Her epitaph says it all: they hope her charity granted her access into heaven. This is all the depth they go to, that is none at all. They are religious people, but don't have too much to do with Christ or a personal relationship with a God who had to give up His own Son to redeem us. God is quite a vague and religious notion.

I enjoyed the book, happy to have read it. But it was not a Christian encounter.
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Pamela Bassett
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Understanding Jane Austen
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2020
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Very enjoyable book with many great insights, from a Christian perspective.
Food for thought.
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A Very Merry Shakespeare
4.0 out of 5 stars I miss Jane Austen's writing.
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2010
All seems right with the world when a "Janeite" like myself, is sent a work that revolves around the artistic expressions of one of the most beloved authors of all time. Jane Austen has held a special place in my heart ever since I began my own writing "journey" when I was thirteen years old. Like Jane, my sense of satire and irony make up the lives of the characters I write about. Not to mention, it does an struggling author's heart good to know that even the magical, Pride & Prejudice was turned down by publishers before becoming THE novel of the past, present, and, apparently, the future.

In the past few years there has been a literal outpouring of support for Jane Austen. Many writers (bad and good) have written movies, books, sequels, prequels - heck, when something called Pride and Prejudice & Zombies, is born than we know we've gone just about as far as we can go on the Austen "bandwagon." (But I doubt it) There are Austen-ites all over that include readers, historians, and biographers. Austen is much like Walmart; she's the "superstore" that has offered many people their own careers. The most intriguing part about all this hype, however, is that Austen, herself, would laugh out loud at the popular status she now holds.

Jane was born into a loving, nurturing and, probably most importantly, lliterary family. Her father was a Reverend referred to by some as "The Handsome Proctor." Even though his faith was a big part of her father, his open-minded intelligence in all areas - not just theology - seems to have been the most beneficial gift for a young aspiring writer to grow up around. Her mother's family tree included the great Oxford men. Although Jane seems to have gotten her sharp retorts from this side of the family, she and her mother did not quite see eye to eye most of the time. You see, her mother was a well-known complainer, and Austen seems to have had, and kept, the humor of a sardonic fifteen-year-old all her life. She was raised in a mostly masculine household. In fact, she was the ultimate observer of men. She found them hilarious, most of the time, and wrote a "man" better than most all men authors of her day and ours. She knew their sly comments; their intelligence in all things male; their dry wit; and, the various ways they found to woo women. She had one sister, Cassandra, who Jane always said was the best at everything. Cassandra was smarter than she, etcetera, and looked up to her older sister with respect.

One of the best things about Austen was her ability to laugh at herself and others. She had a self-deprecating humor - once referring to herself as "unlearned and uninformed." She was right about the formal education that she received - it was absolutely limited. But the amount of reading and studying she did, as well as taking on the learning of various languages, made Jane Austen a woman of the world. Her high "common sense" intelligence showed in every paragraph she wrote - whether it be serious or funny. Her books stand taller today than they did then, because of the magnificent worlds she created and filled with the most romantic and humorous characters of her and our time. I don't know of any woman who doesn't think that Mr. Darcy - even with all his high-handedness - isn't the absolute "perfect" male species that we wish we could find. And although romance was a strong suit of Jane's, her own love life was not something that ever blossomed into marriage. Whether it be that she simply didn't find the real Mr. Darcy, or because of the fact that her parents were so much in love that she wasn't about to settle for anything that wasn't completely "real," we'll never know. What we do know is that every facet of this woman's imagination was something that still carries on from generation to generation. No longer a British hero, she has been taken into every country's heart and soul.

At the young age of forty-one Jane Austen left this earth. There are pilgrimages to places of her birth, death, and houses where her characters ate, danced, and lived their remarkable lives. There is even a special stained glass window that is placed in the church where she's buried for her avid followers to see. She was a woman who spoke and believed in manners and morals, independence, and being one with the Divine. Most of all, by everyone's accounts left behind, Jane was an enigma. A woman who looked at the world and enjoyed it with the power of her laughter, and the great ability to write stories that intrigue, entice, and live on forever.

The biographer has done a fantastic job in the telling of Jane Austen's life; facts were offered as any good biographer will do, but he left our beloved icon a heart and soul that shows on every page.
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R. Tynan
5.0 out of 5 stars This was an easy to read bio of Jane Austen
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2015
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This was an easy to read bio of Jane Austen. It painted a realistic picture of Jane and her life and has helped me understand her writing much better.
2 people found this helpful
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Kim S.
5.0 out of 5 stars The Christian Jane Austin
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2013
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I greatly enjoyed this in-depth look at a much misunderstood author. A good companion book to this is Leithart's Miniature and Morals. They have both helped me to see much more in Austen and her novels than I otherwise would have.
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