The Age of Revelation

Boudinot's passionate defense of Christianity is as fresh, forceful and convincing now as the day it first appeared.

Authored by Elias Boudinot as a response to Thomas Payne's The Age of Reason, The Age of Revelation is a spirited defense of Christian beliefs and principles from the perspective of a believer who had spent decades in the service of the church. Elias Boudinot was a distinguished statesman whose adherence to traditional beliefs was unstinting throughout his life.

Boudinot's response is lengthy and measured, tackling Payne's thesis point-by-point. The tone he strikes is one of calm conviction, wherein he sets out a case for Christianity and against the various skeptical arguments of Payne. He demonstrates that Payne's views are not new or novel, and opines that had Payne not published the popular book Common Sense a few years prior that The Age of Reason would never have experienced a strong reception.

At the time Boudinot published this book in 1790, there was a growing tide of skeptic, secular and atheist opinion which threatened the existing system wherein Christianity and Christian traditions were held in the highest regard across the social strata. Much of the opposition to the established order was vociferous, with individuals such as Ethan Allen and Thomas Payne asserting that reason rather than faith was the course that humankind should adhere.