The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth | Thomas Jefferson

The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth | Thomas Jefferson | Says a Lot about Jefferson!

books:

The Jefferson Bibl...

	The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Thomas Jefferson Applewood Books(MA), 2006 - 103 pages average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

The Teachings OF Jesus, not ABOUT Jesus

Thomas Jefferson (TJ) thought very highly of Jesus as a philosopher but he had no use for the dogma of Christianity as developed by those evangelists (as epitomized by Paul) who followed Jesus. He believed the writers of the New Testament to be uneducated; delivering word of mouth, fabricated and exaggerated information decades after the fact, and did not consider any of it to be inspired by God. With encouragement from others, including John Adams, he decided to "reorganize" the New Testament, deleting the objectionable parts, leaving only the teachings of Jesus.

TJ did this twice - once when he was in the White House, spending only 2 or 3 nights on it after doing his routine daily correspondence - and the more definitive version which we have here, when he was 76, about 1820. Since TJ considered anyone's faith to be a private affair, it's not clear whether he ever expected publication. There are hints that he went to some efforts to avoid public knowledge of at least the first version, probably because the more vocal of his opponents already reviled him as an infidel too impious to be president, and a theological heretic.

TJ's Bible, only 46 pages, ended up being a rearrangement of the gospels only, excluding any parts he didn't like - virgin birth, miracles, resurrection, and dogma developed by first century Christians. TJ, in a letter to Benjamin Rush describing his planned redaction of the Gospels, said only, "I have a view of the subject which ought to displease neither the rational Christian nor Deist." While contemplating his redaction, he wrote, "There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and by arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill."

In the second century, Titian wrote the "Diatessaron," an attempt to combine and harmonize the four gospels. It enjoyed semi-canonical standing in the Syriac Christian church for centuries. Thomas Friedman has written two books about the Documentary Hypothesis, making the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) a redaction of several ancient writers. TJ was not the first to attempt improvements on either Testament of the Bible.

Careful review of TJ's Bible reveals that it was difficult for him to get rid of all he despised and yet keep all that he liked. Good works were so interspersed with miracles that one could not get rid of the miracle without lessening the value of the moral lesson.

To quote from the book, "Like other Enlightenment rationalists, TJ was convinced that the real villain in the Christian story was the apostle Paul, who had corrupted the religion OF Jesus into a religion ABOUT Jesus, which thus had, in combination with the otherworldly outlook of the 4rth gospel, produced the monstrosities of dogma, superstition, and priestcraft which were the essence of Christian orthodoxy. The essence of authentic religion, and therefore of the only kind of Christianity in which TJ was interested, needed to be rescued from these distortions, so that the true person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth might rise from the dead page - the only kind of resurrection TJ was prepared to accept."

If this book is to be believed, at least between 1904 and 1956, a copy of the Jefferson Bible was given to each US Senator upon inauguration. As much as TJ believed in separation of church and state, I wonder what he would have thought of this practice.

I can highly recommend this little book. It has not only a readable version of the gospels (uniquely shuffled), but a pre-commentary and post-commentary which give a superb view of TJ's religious views.

for more information click here

Says a Lot about Jefferson!

Jefferson's Bible is an important work both for what it shows of a pivotal Founding Father and lynch-pin president, and what it doesn't show. Jefferson was neither the passionate Christian that some try to paint him as, nor was he the foaming at the mouth Deist that others attempt to paint him as. Jefferson was earlier in his life leaning more toward Deism and toward the end of his life best described as a Unitarian in the sense that the word was used in that day. In an effort to paint their positions, camps from both sides fail to account for the fact that Jefferson was human and his journey through life developed his thinking in these areas and he showed progression and modification of his positions as learning and experience tempered them.

Jefferson clearly rejected Trinitarian theology and believed the gospel narratives to be tarnished with later redaction by the early Church. His "Bible" as such was an attempt to cull out those redactions and isolate those words and teachings of Christ that reflect the moral code of Jesus Christ that Jefferson held to be the highest such teaching known to man. He was in effect trying to identify that theoretical "Q document" that Biblical Scholars from Jefferson's day until now believe existed which had only the words of Christ as he spoke them recorded.

Jefferson's Bible demonstrates both Jefferson's judgement as to what true Christianity (by his definition) entailed, and also what was baggage and needed to be removed. Jefferson revered Christ's moral code and teachings, even as he rejected his deity. This is eminently clear in Jefferson's writings, especially in his lengthy, latter year correspondence with John Adams.

Those who try and demonstrate Jefferson as to one side or the other demonstrate their own bias and need for Jefferson to be cast into their own camp.

Don't make the same mistake. Read the text at face value and determine what it says to you about Jefferson. Then, if you want, wade into the swamp of what others want to tell you it says about Jefferson and his view of our nation. You'll be equipped to reject either extreme and let Jefferson speak for himself.

Those who feel the need to cast stones at it for some felt need to protect the Bible miss the point. This is not about the Bible. The Bible has stood for centuries before Jefferson and will stand long after Jefferson is forgotten. It's about what Jefferson thought, and what he believed and should be read first and foremost from that position.

for more information click here

Score 1 - Jefferson

I had heard of this work in my college days, and so bought a copy as soon as I found one. Jefferson worked on this editing of the bible while in the White House and shortly before his death. Never intended for public view (Jefferson - unlike many politicians these days considered religion a private - VERY private domain) this work was done to satisfy a private need at the urging of some of his neigbors/friends.

Jefferson's work consisted on removing any miraculous references in the New Testiment as well as any stries which Jefferson did not believe held up to rational thought.

It thus contains the moral precepts and teachings that Jefferson valued so highly.

for more information click here

Jefferson, almost an athiest but a well read one.

A vital peek into how a person who disregarded common religion as little more than social interaction viewed and revered the teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Christian Bible. His personal "Reader's Digest" (r) version of the true Gospel. See Jefferson's mind through the mirror of his selections.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

products you might be interested in