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Summary: As a Deist...
Review: As a Deist myself, I would recomend this book to anyone who is interested in Deism. Paine uses this book to point out the problems with not only the Christian religion, but also Judaism and Islam. He uses simply reason, which he calls, "The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind," to point our problems and direct contradictions within these religions.This book is clear and concise. It is one of the most eye opening books I have ever read.
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Summary: A book that flies in the face of Biblical shamanism.
Review: Cuban poet Jose Marti must have been thinking of individuals like Thomas Paine when he wrote: "Animals follow the herd; men their free thought." In "The Age of Reason," Paine asks us to break away from the "herd" of theistic religion and follow our free thought. But to accept this challenge, one must be willing to swim against the current of religious "group-think"; to give up the reassuring and dogmatic belief-system that replaced Santa Claus and the other fairytales of our childhood. And there is the rub! Paine uses the internal inconsistencies and factual errors in the Bible to expose it for the man-made fabrication that it is. And since his arguments are devastating and unanswerable, the only recourse for his detractors is to engage in ad hominem tirades against him or to challenge the propriety of his endeavor. Indeed, in his own time, Paine was made to endure unconscionable hardships and humiliations for challenging the foundations of the clericalist establishment. A more exhaustive expose of Biblical self-incrimination is presented in Joseph Wheless's book "Is it God's Word? However, Paine's book, written more than 200 years ago and directed at the general public, is a historical landmark of religious dissent. Paine's religious views share much in common with the "cosmic religious feeling" described by Albert Einstein as linked to the "sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves in both nature and the world of thought." Paine's book dares us to consider that yes, Virginia, there is a God, but not one with long hair and a beard who punishes little children for not saying their prayers at night.
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Summary: Wonderful book
Review: It discusses his beliefs in which he thinks the New and Old Testament are not true because it is from here say, which is the word of man and not the Word of God. He wonders how people can believe something written in a text and not something that was personally told to them. His biggest argument was how we can believe in something we have never seen. This is a good book to read because it explains many beliefs and misunderstandings that you may have about the bible and of various religions.
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Summary: Important Book
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. I have a new respect for Thomas Paine. Paine spent his life defending the cause of freedom. In this book, Paine tries to break the chains of religious superstition. The thoughts expressed in this book might help to reduce the problem of religious extremism we are facing today. We should spend more time learning about the thoughts and ideas of our founding fathers. It is amazing how brilliant these men were.
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Summary: Brilliant Defense of Freethought
Review: The Age of Reason is a brilliant defense of freethought and freedom of religious belief. Paine is NOT an atheist as claimed by fanatical believers. Paine is a Deist and an opponent of atheism. Paine dissects the Bible's origins, falsehoods, fables and contadictions. Paine had tremendous courage in writing this since religious belief is usually the most fanatical and anti-intellectual when it's fangs are extended. Paine wrote this to enlighten the human mind and show how organized religion warps the mind and causes reason and investigation to become trumped by superstition, metaphysics, and revelation. A great book to open the mind.
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Summary: This book should be required reading.
Review: THE AGE OF REASON is one of the best books I ever read and has greatly influenced my thinking about religion and democracy. More people should read this book and see the error of thier ways!
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Summary: Reason Rules
Review: This book is like the bible for Deists. You don't have to be a Christian to believe in God. Thomas Paine makes that very clear. Instead of following the Bible to find the Creator, Paine follows nature, science, and reason to come to the conclusion that God exists.
Using reason, the author shows why the Bible cannot be the word of God. In an age without the printing press, it wasn't hard for writers to change sentences or omit certain words. In fact, at the end of the essay, Paine mentions how a printer in America changed a sentence in the first part of Age of Reason. The New Testament is at least 1700 years old, so it's extremely likely that we are reading an altered form of the Bible.
One intangible is language. The original Bible was written in Ancient Greek and Hebrew. Parts of the Bible are lost in translation. Would the "Word of God" really come in human language? Paine doubts it. It's impossible to convey the same message in two different languages. Instead, the Word of God is Creation itself. It's a universal language. It requires no translation, and everybody can experience it.
You do not need to be a Bible scholar to read this book. While it's probably good to have a frame of reference, anybody can understand the message Paine is making. Paine writes about fundamental contradictions in the accounts of the authors of the New Testament. Luke and John have different versions of the resurrection, and about the events after it. While they both mention a meeting with Jesus, they don't elaborate. Nobody has any idea what Jesus said after the resurrection. Don't you think that would be an important scene?
I enjoyed Paine's sharp commentary and witty writting. He really was a firebrand. Paine was correct, however. Reason is a very powerful tool, and it leads us to the true theology: "Do we not see a fair creation prepared to receive us the instant we are born- a world furnished in our hands, that cost us nothing?"
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Summary: Still worth reading today
Review: This is a book which was written in 1795 but surprisingly enough is as clear and easy to read as books written today. The book consists of two parts, the fist is a discussion of deism as a rational religious belief and he second part consists of a textual analysis of the bible. The second half is probably the more interesting part to read today. Payne goes through and compares the internal logic of the text of both the old and New Testament and Old Testament. The four gospels vary significantly in their account of a range of issues which Payne suggests proves that they were written in isolation from each other and suggests that their origin is hearsay. One example he raises is the account that suggests that when Jesus died the tombs of saints opened and they were returned to life. This rather significant event is not mentioned in the other gospels and that suggests that it was not true. He uses a similar approach to other gospels. In regard to the Old Testament he suggests convincingly that the suggestion that Moses wrote the first give books of the bible cannot be true. The key to understanding this is a close examination of the text. These books not only describe Moses life but also his death. The writing is inconsistent with personal authorship in other ways. (The text for instance suggesting that Moses was modest. If one was to make such an assertion about oneself it would not be consistent with the nature of the assertion) The book is very short and apart from the discussion of the bible it is an interesting work in the context of history. It was written after the revolution but before Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor. Payne had little idea of what was to come and how quickly Catholicism would be re-introduced in France. An interesting book and the critique of the Bible is one of the foundations of modern scholarship in the area.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a wonderful book. I wish I would have read it earlier in my life. In the Age of Reason Paine is trying to free human thought from the bondage of Organized religion's scare tactics and superstition. Think what the world would be like today if we were Deist and quit arguing and killing over religous text. Paine's arguments are well organized and easy to read. I also believe this book should be taught in schools. I strongly recommend this book.
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Summary: One of the most important works of American literature
Review: Thomas Paine was an English born American who was instrumental in the cause of American independance and is considered to be one of our most important founding fathers. In 1798 he wrote The Age of Reason which was a controversial piece on his thoughts concerning religion. It attacked Christianity, judaisim and to a lesser extent, Islam.
During the time the piece was written, the church was still very powerful and people were hardly receptive to such criticism of the bible. One would think that given the religious climate of America at the time, Paine would make an effort to question the authenticity of the bible in the most subtle and respectful manner possible. Paine however does no such thing. When considering the time period the book was written, the reader cannot help but laugh at some of the words and phrases Paine uses to describe the bible. I can hardly imagine how the simple, humble christians of 1798 must have gasped when reading Paines words.
Paine routinely refers to the bible as "stupid", "ridiculous" "absurd" ,"a book of fables" and "a nonsensical lie" among others. I was stunned at his "in your face" style. Although the writing is bold and provocative it is still eloquent and articulate.
The thrust of Paines argument is that God would never reveal himself to us via written religous text. Such text would easily be misinterpreted and corrupted by the hand of man. He points out obvious discrepencies in the acts of Jesus found in various books of the new testament. Some are small, like the books of the bible differ on the geneology of Jesus, some are big like when he states "According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet Jesus in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews." Both books cannot be right about this because Jesus couldnt be in 2 different places at the same time. One contains a falsehood. Paine argues that if we cannot believe some of the more trival parts of the bible that we know to be false, why should we believe the fabulous parts, like that of the virgin birth?
Paine goes to great pains to impress upon the reader his sincere belief in the existance of God and that of an afterlife. He was no athiest dispite what others have said. Those who accuse him of such have not read The Age of Reason.
Personally the paragraph of the book that had the greatest impression on me and probolly summarized the book to some extent was the following
"To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but little better: whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the study of those things is the study of the true theology; it teaches man to know and to admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the creation, and are unchangeable, and of divine origin."
For me this is one of the most profound and brilliant statements I have read. I encourage everyone to read this book and give it serious thought. Be prepared to question your most cherished beliefs. Those who dismiss Paine as having misinterpreted the bible or taken the bible too "literally" only serve to prove Paines assertion that God would never reveal himself to mankind through a mysterious book often written in abstract terms whose meaning is open to interpretation.
The reviewers who attack the book most likely didn't read it. This is especially true for the reviewers who cite that Franklin had harsh criticism of the book. Anyone who actually read the book would notice that Paine only speaks of Ben Franklin in the past tense, thats because Paine didnt start writing The Age of Reason until his imprisonment in France in 1793. Franklin died in 1790
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