The Age of Reason

by Thomas Paine

Overview

A major actor in the American Revolution, the English intellectual Thomas Paine (1737-1809) is best remembered for his pamphlet Common Sense (1776), which advocated American independence from Britain. Although accorded honorary French citizenship in 1792 for his republican Rights of Man, Paine was later imprisoned and narrowly escaped guillotine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9786057861030
Publisher:	E-Kitap Projesi & Cheapest Books
Publication date:	01/01/1900
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	198
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Thomas Paine (29 January 1737-8 June 1809) was an English pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, and intellectual. He lived and worked in Britain until age 37, when he emigrated to the British American colonies, in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contribution was the powerful, widely-read pamphlet, Common Sense (1776), advocating colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and of The American Crisis (1776-1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series.

Later, he greatly influenced the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), a guide to Enlightenment ideas. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason (1793-94), the book advocated deism and argued against Christian doctrines.

In France, he also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. He remained in France during the early Napoleonic era, but condemned Napoleon's dictatorship, calling him "the completest charlatan that ever existed". In 1802, he returned to America at President Thomas Jefferson's invitation.

Thomas Paine died, at age 72, in No. 59 Grove Street, Greenwich Village, N.Y.C., on 8 June 1809. His burial site is located in New Rochelle, New York where he had lived after returning to America in 1802. His remains were later disinterred by an admirer looking to return them to England; his final resting place today is unknown.

Other Books of Author:
• Common Sense (1776)
• The American Crisis (1776)

Table of Contents

About Author:

Part 1

Chapter 1

The Author's Profession of Faith

Chapter 2

Of Missions and Revelations

Chapter 3

Concerning the Character of Jesus Christ, and His History

Chapter 4

Of the Bases of Christianity

Chapter 5

Examination in Detail of the Preceding Bases

Chapter 6

Of the True Theology

Chapter 7

Examination of the Old Testament

Chapter 8

Of the New Testament

Chapter 9

In What the True Revelation Consists

Chapter 10

Concerning God, and the Lights Cast on His Existence and Attributes by the Bible

Chapter 11

Of the Theology of the Christians; and the True Theology

Chapter 12

The Effects of Christianism on Education; Proposed Reforms

Chapter 13

Comparison of Christianism with the Religious Ideas Inspired by Nature

Chapter 14

System of the Universe

Chapter 15

Advantages of the Existence of Many Worlds in Each Solar System

Chapter 16

Application of the Preceding to the System of the Christians

Chapter 17

Of the Means Employed in All Time, and Almost Universally, to Deceive the Peoples

Recapitulation

Part 2

Preface

Chapter 1

The Old Testament

Chapter 2

The New Testament

Chapter 3

Conclusion

Footnotes:

Editorial Reviews

• "It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man."
• "One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."
• "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
• "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

― Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

From the Publisher

"Kerry Walters' new edition of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason, along with its collection of pre- and post-publication material, is an invaluable addition to the Paine library. Most impressive is Walters's eloquent and lucid introduction, which concisely places Paine's Deism in the greater context of the British and French Enlightenment. It is an indispensable edition for undergraduate and graduate students studying history, philosophy, the history of religion, and the psychology of social ideas."

Jack Fruchtman Jr. Towson University

"There are many editions of The Age of Reason available for students and modern readers. Kerry Walters' Broadview Edition is the best. It combines an astute introduction with up-to-the-moment bibliographic material. Walters also illuminates crucial aspects of the book and its arguments with hard-to-find contemporary documents that put Paine's work in an international context."

Bruce Kuklick University of Pennsylvania