The Age of Reason - Definition and Overview

The Age of Reason is a philosophical treatise written by the 18th Century American philosopher and patriot Thomas Paine, best remembered as the author of the political pamphlet Common Sense, credited with exciting colonial opinion in support of the American Revolutionary War.

The Age of Reason treatise, written in parts during the 1790s and dealing in a systematic examination of organized religion, advocates a sceptical and rational materialistic examination of religion known as Deism. Paine stresses his belief in "one god", or, the "Word of God" as exemplified by nature and the exercise of Reason. Thus, he necessarily rejects most of the tenets of both the Old Testament and New Testament. As he stresses: "I detest it [the Bible] as I detest everything that is cruel."

Paine began the work while in France in 1793. As Paine was in jail for protesting the execution of Louis XVI, this first section was published in a French translation. After his release from prison, at the urging of James Monroe, Paine wrote the second part. The completed work was then published several years later.

External links

• A full copy of Paine's The Age of Reason on infidels.org (http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/age_of_reason/)
• Paine's The Age of Reason on deism.org (http://www.deism.org/aor1.htm)