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( The Age of Reason)
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. Most of Paine's arguments had long been available to the educated elite, but by presenting them in an engaging and irreverent style, he made deism appealing and accessible to a mass audience. The book was also inexpensive, putting it within the reach of a large number of buyers. Fearing the spread of what they viewed as potentially revolutionary ideas, the British government prosecuted printers and booksellers who tried to publish and distribute it. The Age of Reason resulted in only a brief upsurge in deistic thought in America. However, Paine's ideas inspired and guided many British freethinkers of the nineteenth century and his rhetorical style has endured even into the twenty-first century, in the works of modern writers such as Christopher Hitchens and the films and persona of Michael Moore. Paine's book followed in the tradition of early eighteenth-century British deism. These deists, while maintaining individual positions, still shared several sets of assumptions and arguments that Paine articulated in The Age of Reason. The most important position that united the early deists was their call for "free rational inquiry" into all subjects, especially religion. Claiming that early Christianity was founded on freedom of conscience, they demanded religious toleration and an end to religious persecution. They also demanded that debate rest on reason and rationality. Deists embraced a Newtonian worldview; that is, they believed all things in the universe, even God, must obey the laws of nature. Without a concept of natural law, the deists argued, explanations of the workings of nature would descend into irrationality. This belief in natural law drove their skepticism of miracles. Because miracles had to be observed to be validated, deists rejected the accounts laid out in the Bible of God's miracles and argued that such evidence was neither sufficient nor necessary to prove the existence of God. Along these lines, deistic writings insisted that God was only the first cause or prime mover and not a deity who interfered in the daily lives of individuals. Deists thus rejected the claim that there was only one revealed religious "truth" or one true faith; religion could only be "simple, apparent, ordinary, and universal" if it was to be the logical product of a benevolent God. They therefore distinguished between "revealed religions" (which they rejected), such as Christianity, and "natural religion", a set of universal beliefs derived from the natural world that demonstrated God's existence (they were, thus, not atheists).[1] While some deists accepted revelation, most argued that revelation's restriction to small groups or even a single person limited its explanatory power. Moreover, many found the Christian revelations in particular to be contradictory and irreconcilable. According to these writers, revelation could reinforce the evidence for God's existence already apparent in the natural world, but more often it led to superstition among the masses. Most deists argued that priests had deliberately corrupted Christianity for their own gain by promoting the acceptance of miracles, unnecessary rituals, and illogical and dangerous doctrines (these accusations were typically referred to as "priestcraft"). The worst of these doctrines was original sin. By convincing people that they required a priest's help to overcome their innate sinfulness, deists argued, religious leaders had enslaved the human population. Deists therefore typically viewed themselves as intellectual liberators.[2]
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The Age of Reason Subcategories
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The Age of Reason Articles
Advantages of food by Bella Mclaine
In nutrition, the diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. Proper nutrition requires the proper ingestion and equally imp...
The Truth About Image Skin Care by Laurel Levine
Recently, I was asked to evaluate the Image skin care product line. They seem like good products, judging by the information that you can get at their website. But, there is some missing information.
First of all, you can't order the products...
Recipe to Make Your Own Essential Oil by Carol Belanger
Essential oils are the oils obtained from plants by various methods, such as distillation. They are called essential oils because it carries a distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. The use of essential oils has a history dating back at least a...
Fast and Effective Weight Loss for the Average Person by Alvin Hopkinson
Weight loss is among the one thing the vast majority of individuals have in common. Many people have good intentions, they are trying to lose weight or are seeking the best methods for losing the weight they want off.
Fast and effective weigh...
The Big Scam Behind Collagen Skin Care And Collagen Treatments by Vijay Raisinghani
Are you looking for collagen skin care creams or collagen treatments? Collagen skin care is one of the most hyped about marketing theme in the cosmetic industry today. But there are a few shocking facts that would make you sit up in shock!
Th...
The quick Weight Loss Diet Trend Disadvantage by Jimmy Chuang
If you wear a size 14 and you blow a bundle on designer size 8 dresses as motivation, you will probably end up feeling guilty, frustrated, and angry if you are not slinking around in it a month later.
In reality, you will do much better sett...
Finding the best acne skin care product to get rid of your acne is not an easy task! by RAMINDER SINGH
If you have been suffering from acne for some time you have probably tried many methods or products to get rid of your acne problem. Finding the best acne skin care product can be difficult especially with all the various products out there. Finding ...
What are The Ingredients in the Best Acne Skin Care Products? by jatin seth
If you have been suffering from acne for some time you have probably tried many methods or products to get rid of your acne problem. Finding the best acne skin care product can be difficult especially with all the various products out there.
...
Weight: The Key to Weight Loss by Margaret Paul
How often have you eaten something that you know is going to put weight on you and you tell yourself that it doesn't count? Do you have any idea how many calories you actually consume in a day, and how many you need to lose weight or to maintain weig...
Ayurveda & its utility over other conventional system by Dr. Jaishree Bhattacharya
Most of you must know that Ayurveda is an age old therapy and a heritage of India. To most of you “Old” means outdated, but to your concern the efficacy of Ayurveda is a proof enough that it is into existence even after 5000 years ; which shows that ...
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