Age of Reason (version 3)

In these volumes, Paine demonstrates the anonymity of the books contained in both the Old and the New Testaments, the only certainties being that most of them have been incorrectly ascribed to the persons whose names they bear and that they cannot be proved to be the “word of God.” Calling himself a deist, he identifies the physical universe and every individual’s private conscience as the only infallible revelations of the Almighty’s power, character, and will. His argument is based on reason and common sense, and his sole scholarly resources are the words of the Bible itself. He regards the biblical portrait of God as a monstrous calumny: an inconstant, ruthless, mean-spirited, vindictive devil, the antithesis of the consistent, magnanimous, serene divinity displayed in the creation.

The first volume was written at the height of the French Revolution when the author was gravely ill, under threat of death by guillotine, and without a Bible to consult. In the much longer second volume, he supported his arguments by close examination of the scriptures, using the words of the Bible alone to prove its inauthenticity. The short final volume consists of personal letters answering objections. - Summary by Thomas Copeland