On a TEMS field trip in Norfolk some years ago, a number of us spent the day in Thetford. It was a brilliantly sunny day and we visited, amongst other things, Castle Hill - an iron-age hill fort, and a ruined Cluniac Priory. Whilst walking through the town we came across a rather impressive statue of a native of Thetford, Thomas Paine. I have since then read his work, The Age of Reason, and thought I would review it for the interest of TEMS readers.

This book is described as a reasoned examination of the Bible in the light of the knowledge and scientific disciplines of the day. This work is of importance, not because it was the first of it's kind, the French Enlightenment thinkers had already written extensively on the subject, but because it brought the concept of Deism to the common man in the English world, it having previously been the preserve of the educated and upper classes. Deism holds that the existence of God can only be discovered by reason and recourse to the natural laws that govern the universe, not through church, religion, or revelation. Paine wrote in a style that was accessible to the masses, and the book was distributed free, making it widely read very quickly. Although the idea of Deism had been around for a while it was not considered a threat by the clergy because those who had knowledge of it were not likely to challenge the authorities of the time as many of them were the authorities of the time! The common man, however, had less to lose, having in recent times being subjected to the enclosure system and various other oppressions, and with the church of the land frequently serving the interests of the powerful, Paine saw the time was ripe for a re-evaluation of religion. He was not, as his detractors suggest, an atheist. He was, and declared himself openly to be, a Deist. He wrote "I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life."

The book is written in two parts, Part One being written from memory as he did not then have access to a Bible, and Part Two written later when he did. The writing of the two parts were interrupted by a spell in Luxembourg prison brought about by his reluctance to support the execution of the French King.

In it he argues that to abandon reason with regard to the Bible and not question it in any way is to deny it of purpose, for then "it would be just as consistent to read even the book called the Bible to a horse as to a man".

The illogicalities and inconsistencies within the Bible are given an airing. He also questioned whether if the intention of Jesus Christ were to start a new religion would He not have written or required the system to have been written in his lifetime? He saw in Jesus a person who defined a morality and way of life rather than an actual religion (TEMS members will know that this aspect lies more with Paul than Jesus). He further argues that human language is an improbable means for God to convey His message to man as it is "local and changeable" preferring the Deist natural world view. He writes "It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a Word of God can unite. The Creation......cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed".

He goes on to outline the suppression of knowledge and scientific inquiry conducted by the Church, finding it incredible that a religion should hold it to be "irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe which God has made".

Paine's earlier writings¹ had positioned him amongst the great thinkers of the period and he is believed by some to have been a prime architect of the emancipation of the ordinary person during those crucial periods of the American and French Revolutions. But for this particular book Thomas Paine was reviled and vilified. The book publisher himself was found guilty of blasphemy and imprisoned. Many of his friends abandoned him, and he died in poverty and ill health. His tombstone was desecrated, later his bones were stolen and lost.

His contributions became suppressed and ignored as the Christian orthodoxy attempted to erase him from history.

Ironically the label of athiest thrown at him was far from the truth, a major motivation for the writing of this book was his concern that the emerging scientific world view and its challenging of the Bible would move humanity away from God into atheism whereas he wanted the Deist view to be considered.

In more recent times his contribution to both the American and French Revolutions is again being acknowledged. His writing style is profound, witty and adroit, and all his works remain inspirational, controversial, and well worth a read.

© eTEMSNews 2005