Thomas Paine

Theological Works of Thomas Paine, The

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Thomas Paine's "theological works," including his lengthy essay on "The Rights of Man." There are several long essays in this volume, along with copies of letters to Lafayette and others that were an important part of Paine's ongoing dialogue on morality, government, and human development. The three long essays in the book are titled: The Age of Reason; An Examination of the Passages of the New Testament, Quoted From the Old, and Called Prophecies of the Coming of Jesus Christ; and The Rights of Man. Paine writes very well and his style is quite easily appreciated by today's reader. This is scholarly, direct, and common sensical stuff. In "The Age of Reason," Paine explains that he believes in one God, and no more, and that he hopes for happiness beyond this life. Beyond that, he does "not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." "I have always held it an opinion... that it is better to obey a bad law, making use at the same time of every argument to show its errors, and promote its repeal, than forcibly to violate it; because the precedent of breaking a bad law might weaken the force and lead to a discretionary violation of those which are good."

Produktdetails

• Verlag: University Press of the Pacific
• Seitenzahl: 468
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. August 2003
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 127mm x 27mm
• Gewicht: 559g
• ISBN-13: 9781410208071
• ISBN-10: 1410208079
• Artikelnr.: 21935711

Autorenporträt

Common SenseThomas Paine1776 Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution, and became an immediate sensation.It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. As of 2006, it remains the all-time best-selling American title and is still in print today.Common Sense made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence, which had not yet been given serious intellectual consideration. Paine connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity and structured Common Sense as if it were a sermon. Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as "the most incendiary and popular pamphlet of the entire revolutionary era."The text was translated into French by Antoine Gilbert Griffet de Labaume in 1790.Paine arrived in the American colonies in November 1774, shortly before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Though the colonies and Great Britain had commenced hostilities against one another, the thought of independence was not initially entertained. Writing of his early experiences in the colonies in 1778, Paine "found the disposition of the people such, that they might have been led by a thread and governed by a reed. Their attachment to Britain was obstinate, and it was, at that time, a kind of treason to speak against it. Their ideas of grievance operated without resentment, and their single object was reconciliation." Paine quickly engrained himself in the Philadelphia newspaper business, and began writing Common Sense in late 1775 under the working title of Plain Truth. Though it began as a series of letters to be published in various Philadelphia papers, it grew too long and unwieldy to publish as letters, leading Paine to select the pamphlet form.Benjamin Rush recommended the publisher Robert Bell, promising Paine that although other printers might balk at the content of the pamphlet, Bell would not hesitate or delay its printing.