Paine's deist attack on organized religion and revealed scripture in favor of reason. A controversial Enlightenment tract.
Books mentioned in The Age of Reason (7)
Common Sense by Thomas Paine: “Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion.”
Elements of Geometry by Euclid: “I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid's Elements of Geometry; [Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three hundred years before Christ, and about one hundred before Archimedes; he was of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt.”
Tom Paine's Jest Book: “[A "Tom Paine's Jest Book" had appeared in London with little or nothing of Paine in it.”
Life of Paul: “[I have taken these two extracts from Boulanger's Life of Paul, written in French; Boulanger has quoted them from the writings of Augustine against Fauste, to which he refers.”
Defence of the Old Testament by David Levi: “[Paine's Jewish critic, David Levi, fastened on this slip ("Defence of the Old Testament," 1797, p.”
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: “…of Queen Anne's farthings, and collectors of relics and antiquities; or to render the belief of miracles ridiculous, by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote outdid chivalry; or to embarrass the belief of miracles, by making it doubtful by what power, whether of God or of the devil, any thing…”
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: “…them in part of the circumstances, because almost all romantic stories have been suggested by some actual circumstance; as the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were suggested by the case of Alexander Selkirk.”
Books that mention The Age of Reason (1)
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather: “When he was braking, down on the Santa Fe, at the end of his run he used to climb into the upper bunk of the caboose, while a noisy gang played poker about the stove below him, and by the roof-lamp read Robert Ingersoll's speeches and "The Age of Reason."”