“If God had not intended that women should use their reason, He would not have given them any, for He does nothing in vain.”
- Date
- 1705
- Local voice
- Authorial / signed preface voice · Mary Astell
Meaning of “If God had not intended that women should…”
Within her Christian framework, Astell argues that women’s capacity for reason implies a responsibility to exercise it rather than surrender judgment to others.
Where does it come from?
The Christian Religion, as Profess'd by a Daughter of the Church of England (1705), opening section, first-edition Google Books scan, around p. 6 before the p. 7 heading represented in the scan’s contents. The first edition uses period spelling/capitalization (“Women shou’d use their Reason … wou’d”), while the frozen catalog record modernizes those forms. Astell’s argument is explicitly Christian and concerns women’s rational agency in religion; it is not a modern empirical finding.
Why the local voice matters
The Christian Religion, as Profess'd by a Daughter of the Church of England. Astell makes a specifically Christian argument that women possess and should exercise reason, especially in religion.