ABSTRACT
In Mansfield Park, the kind, pious and slightly dull Edmund Bertram is the Christian facing danger, and the danger is presented to him in the attractive form of Miss Mary Crawford. Mary Crawford, as well as being 'remarkably pretty', is intelligent, witty and vivacious, easing herself naturally into contrast with the shallow Bertram daughters so indulged by their aunt, the monstrous Mrs Norris. Edmund's idealism and his father's hypocrisy are two among many instructions for pastors which can be found in the writings of the Rector of Steventon's daughter. The ministry of teaching is not the repetition of particular 'doctrines', it is the practice of them. Doctrine-teaching, is much more than 'doctrines'. This double contention, that Christian teaching is much more than verbal communication or the making of statements, and that there is an organic relationship between the activity of doctrine and its particular setting, is basic to the theology of the gospels.
