Sermons to Young Women

Sermons to Young Women

"Sermons to Young Women" (1766), often called "Fordyce's Sermons", is a two-volume compendium of sermons compiled by Dr. James Fordyce, a Scottish clergyman, which were originally delivered by himself and others. Dr. Fordyce was considered an excellent orator, and his collection of sermons found a ready audience among English clergy and laity alike. It quickly became a staple of many Church and personal libraries.

To the modern Western ear, the sermons, which seem to encourage female subjugation to male preferences and emphasize a feminine manner of speech, action, and appearance over substantive development of ideas, seem hopelessly outdated and chauvinistic. That they were so considered even within fifty or so years after their publication is evidenced by their mention in Jane Austen's seminal novel "Pride and Prejudice" (1813), wherein Mr. Collins, a buffoonish clergyman, selects "Fordyce's Sermons" as an appropriate title for reading aloud to his young female cousins.

Dr. Fordyce married at the age of 51, about eleven years after publishing his famous collection of sermons.


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