SOURCE: "The Language of Christianity in Pym's Novels," in Thought: A Review of Culture and Idea, Vol. 59, No. 235, December, 1984, pp. 504-13.

In the following essay, Benet examines Pym's treatment of the Christian church and religious sentiment in A Few Green Leaves and several earlier novels. As Benet notes, Pym's concern over "devitalized religious words, outmoded devotional forms, and a clergy whose ability to communicate the faith is almost entirely inadequate" are recurring themes in her fiction.

When a group of women decorates St. Mary's for Whitsunday, Mildred Lathbury, the heroine of Barbara Pym's Excellent Women, remarks, "There was a good deal of chatter, and I was reminded of Trollope's description of Lily Dale and Grace Crawley, who were both accustomed to churches and 'almost as irreverent as though they were two curates.'" Pym herself is accustomed to churches, and writes her comic novels with an affectionate irreverence...