Biblical criticism

 Thomas Paine, a great troubler of American consciences, said readers should be careful about attributing any piece of writing to divine inspiration.

Paine found the proverbs in the Bible inferior to those of the Spaniards and no better than Ben Franklin’s.

I’ve been thinking about what we call “inspiration” since trying to read some of Blake’s prophetic poetry. I’d guess that more professors have taught more classes on Blake than on William Stafford, Norman MacCaig, Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry. But the tables would be turned if I were compiling scriptures — a collection of poems that inspired me. (I would call inspired.) My collection would include a few by Blake but many by poets who seem to me to be ranked as lesser lights.

• Source: Thomas Paine, Collected Writings; New York: The Library of America, 1984, p. 677. The line of thought is from “The Age of Reason,” published in 1794.