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Primary sourceBook1794-1807

The Age of Reason

Thomas Paine · 1794-1807

Paine's deist work challenging organized religion and the Bible, partly written around the time of his imprisonment in Paris.

Paine wrote this attack on organized religion, which damaged his reputation in his later years.

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Title page of The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. Text reads: 'The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. By Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress in the American War, and author of the works entitled Common Sense, and Rights of Man, &c. Paris: Printed by Barrois. London: Sold by D. I. Eaton, at the Cock and Swine, No. 74, Newgate-street. 1794. Price two shillings.'
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, title page, 1794.

About this source

What it is

The Age of Reason is a work by Thomas Paine, published in three parts between 1794 and 1807. It argues for deism, criticizes institutionalized religion, and questions the authority of the Bible.

Why it matters

Paine rejected miracles and revealed religion, instead arguing for reason and a creator God known through nature. The book was a best-seller in the United States and sparked a deistic revival there, while in Britain it was received with hostility amid fears of revolutionary radicalism. Its publication contributed to Paine's isolation and poor reputation in his final years in America, showing how his religious views cost him public support even after his revolutionary service.

Look closer

  • Why might Paine's religious ideas have been more controversial than his political ones?
  • What does the different reception in America and Britain tell us about each society?
  • How might writing partly during imprisonment have shaped Paine's tone?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Thomas Paine on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of the 1776 Philadelphia pamphlet Common Sense, addressed to the Inhabitants of America, printed by R. Bell in Third Street. Handwritten annotations include a name in the top corner and Thomas Paine's name near the bottom.Book

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Common Sense

Thomas Paine · 10 January 1776

Photograph of the first page of a printed 1776 pamphlet titled The American Crisis, Number I, by Thomas Paine, with handwritten annotations at the top reading 'by Thomas Paine' and 'published in the Penn. Journal' and 'June 1776'. The printed text begins 'These are the times that try men's souls.'Book

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The American Crisis

Thomas Paine · 1776-1783

Title page of Rights of Man, reading 'Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution, by Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to Congress in the American War, and Author of the Work Intitled Common Sense. London: Printed for J. S. Jordan, No. 166, Fleet-Street. MDCCXCI.' Handwritten ink marks appear in the upper right corner.Book

Primary source

Rights of Man

Thomas Paine · 1791-1792

Scan of the engrossed Declaration of Independence on aged parchment. Heading reads 'In Congress, July 4, 1776' with the title 'The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America' below. Dense handwritten text fills the page; signatures appear at the bottom.Document

Primary source

Declaration of Independence

Continental Congress (drafted by Thomas Jefferson) · 1776

Title page of 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', set in serif capitals. Text reads: on the revolution in France, and on the proceedings in certain societies in London relative to that event, in a letter intended to have been sent to a gentleman in Paris, by the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, London: printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, MDCCXC. Yellowed paper with a faint stamp mark in the middle.Book

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Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke · November 1790

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