Bob's Home Library
Summary:
The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and
Fabulous Theology, a deistic treatise written by
eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary
Thomas Paine, critiques institutionalized religion and
challenges the inerrancy of the Bible. Published in three parts
in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in America, where
it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences,
however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of
the French revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age
of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it
highlights the corruption of the Christian Church and
criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine
advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to
reject miracles and to view the Bible as an ordinary piece of
literature rather than as a divinely inspired text. The Age of
Reason is not atheistic, but deistic: it promotes natural
religion and argues for a creator-God.
Tags: [ZDC:YWSJ, ZDC:ZXZZ, CNTY:USA]