Thomas Paine and the idea of authority [ANTONIO LASTRA] This essay attempts a reading of the work of Thomas Paine according to the postulate of the importance of writing and compares the writings of Paine to the Scriptures and the emulation of American constitutional writing. The idea of authority has a prominent place in this study as the thread between both forms of writing ¿between the authority of the Scriptures and popular bled Paine to reach awareness of his task as a writer or author, an awareness of the words that comprise one of the richest works in the philosophical and political lexicography of our epoch.