The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 4: The Age of Reason

Thomas PaineProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.2

Word count: 406K words
Chapters: 41

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 4 (1794-1796): The Age of Reason by PaineAuthor: Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809,Language: English, Class: JC: Political science: Political theory, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

The Age of Reason is one of Paine's most controversial and influential works, and this volume collects his related writings from 1794 to 1796. In plain, incisive English, Paine systematically challenges revealed religion, church authority, and the biblical text, arguing that nature and reason should be the foundation of faith and morality. Its value lies not only in the argument itself but in how it shows a thinker of a revolutionary age extending the political demand for equality into the religious sphere: everyone has the right to judge by reason rather than rely on tradition and authority. The prose is direct, the examples concrete, and the tone strongly polemical, conveying the sharpness and confidence of late-eighteenth-century public writing. As a public-domain text, it serves as a primary source for understanding Enlightenment religious criticism, the intellectual background of the American Revolution, and debates over church and state. Readers should distinguish its historical context from contemporary issues, attending both to its argumentative logic and to its rhetoric and period limitations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and readers interested in the Enlightenment and the critique of religion
Beginners studying the American Revolution and Paine's political thought
Book club members who want to understand church-state debates through primary texts
Readers with some English proficiency who prefer argumentative nonfiction

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a neutral overview of religious history rather than a polemic
Readers sensitive to religious topics who prefer to avoid harsh criticism
Beginners who still find English reading difficult and need Chinese annotations

Reading tips

Begin with Paine's preface explaining why he wrote, to grasp his target and motive, then move to the main text.
Read his specific challenges to the biblical text alongside the deist thought of the time, rather than as an isolated attack.
Note his argumentative methods and rhetoric as you read, distinguishing period polemical strategy from issues open to general discussion.
Read alongside overviews of Enlightenment religious criticism to help judge what this book inherits and what it breaks with.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this book mainly about? Is it a work of systematic theology?

It is not systematic theology but polemical writing. Paine mainly questions the authority of revealed religion and the reliability of the biblical text, arguing that reason and nature should be the basis of faith. Read it in the context of late-eighteenth-century public debate.

Can I understand it without knowing Christian background?

You can, but some arguments address specific scriptures and doctrines, and lack of background will weaken comprehension. Learn the basic structure of the Bible and the state of the church at the time before reading the main text, so you can see more clearly what Paine is refuting and why he phrases things as he does.

This public-domain edition has no modern notes. How can I fill in the background?

First consult overviews of Paine's life and the background of The Age of Reason, then read the main text. For specific scriptural quotations, compare with a public-domain Bible text. Keeping historical background and textual argument separate reduces reading difficulty.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Thomas Paine Author · American (English-born) · 1737–1809

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was an American thinker and writer born in England, and an important political propagandist during the American Revolutionary War. His 1776 pamphlet Common Sense called on the North American colonies to break away from Britain and had a wide influence on public opinion; he later published The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, and took part in the French Revolution. He wrote mainly political pamphlets, in plain and forceful language, and was skilled at turning abstract political principles into arguments ordinary readers could readily understand, arousing both attention and controversy in Britain and America. Pieces such as The American Crisis likewise show his style of intervening in public affairs through writing. The library holds 8 of his works, including The Rights of Man, Common Sense, The Age of Reason, and several volumes of his collected writings; public information on the details of his life is limited.