Thomas Paine, born in the year 1737, was an English American philosopher who wrote the controversial paper entitled The Age of Reason. These essays were calling upon people to believe more in the powers and evidences of the sciences of mathematics and nature rather than the Christian faith’s in a higher power or the church. In Paine’s essays, he makes mention of the three main things in the sciences to believe in: The Triangle, Lever, and Wheel. This is similar to the three aspects of God in Christianity called the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By forming a base of science on a Trinity of Reason, Paine turns it into its own type of religion. How do the two Trinities compare to one another? In this paper, I intend to explore…show more content… The first part of Paine’s Trinity of Reason, “In that part of science that is called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which, when applied to the study of the heavenly bodies, is called astronomy; when applied to direct the course of a ship on the ocean, it is called navigation; when applied to the construction of figures drawn by a rule and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to the construction of plans of edifices, it is called architecture; when applied to the measurement of any portion of the surface of the earth, it is called land-surveying.” (657) The triangle, which according to Paine is, “In fine, it is the soul of science. It is an eternal truth: it contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, and the extent of its uses are unknown.”…show more content… The wheel connects them and binds them together. The Wheel is the part of science that moves it, binds it together. With the power of the wheel things can change, “The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each other is in the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two wheels were joined together and made into that kind of lever.” (658-659) The wheel is joined to the lever and that in turn is joined to the triangle, forming a Trinity of Reason, a trinity of science. The wheel is God the Son the Christ. The Son joins and brings the Father and the Holy Spirit together, making the Holy Trinity as one entity together. This Trinity is just like the Trinity of Reason that Paine has referred in his theology, “It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of science is derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts have originated.” (659) Paine has called the sciences the true theology that we should follow. However, to make it a theology, he copied the aspects of the Holy Trinity to form the bases of this
