Any seeker of reason would do well to read Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, the classic popularization of deism which was first published in the United States at the beginning of the republic (1797-1807). In a brief and straightforward text, Paine lays out his case regarding the Bible (its inspiration, authority, and morality), supernatural revelation, the authority of religious organizations, etc.
Paine wasn't a biblical scholar. But his writing provides a layperson's overview of the content and history of the Bible that has long been understood by scholars but is still nearly unheard of by religious zealots who make policy today.
In a better world, students at seminaries and Bible colleges would study The Age of Reason alongside their survey courses of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. And Sunday School superintendents, members of local school boards, and Congress people would actually read the whole Bible (many never have) and Paine.
Key quote: (The religious person) despises the choicest gift of God to man, the gift of Reason; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human reason, as if man could give reason to himself" (Part 1, ch. 8)