The Book of the City of Ladies Religion Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

God has similarly ordained man and woman to serve Him in different offices and also to aid and comfort one another, each in their ordained task, and to each sex has given a fitting and appropriate nature and inclination to fulfill their offices. (1.11.1)

Christine de Pizan is pretty sure that God loves men and women equally. But she still believes that God made men and women for different reasons and that each sex has its own job to do. It ain't exactly progressive, but this is the year 1405 we're talking about here.

Quote #5

The King who will judge the whole world will descend, from the sky, and the good and the evil alike will behold Him. (2.2.3)

De Pizan isn't messing around when she talks about God. She's totally confident that Judgment Day is coming, and that God will come out of the sky and judge every single person on Earth depending on whether they've been good or bad.

Quote #6

Even though these sibyls were all born pagans and lived among pagans, they all attacked pagan religion and assailed the pagans for worshipping many gods, declaring that there was only one God and that the idols were useless. (2.1.3)

While making the case for women, Christine de Pizan uses a lot of examples of women who lived before Christianity had spread throughout the world. She excuses this fact, though, by saying that many of the pagan women she praises knew full well that they were worshipping the wrong gods and that the one true God would eventually show their people the way.