The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth – The Jefferson Bible Forgotten Books
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth The Jefferson Bible Forgotten Books
"This is Thomas Jefferson's attempt at editing the Gospels into a single, coherent narrative. The text here focuses on the attributed words of Jesus: chiefly the Sermon on the Mount and the parables. Jefferson highlights the ideas of the Gospels, rather than miracles and wonder stories. For instance, Jefferson ends the story with Jesus' burial: there is no resurrection in this tale, and no post-death interaction with the disciples. This edition contains a very short section with some other writings of Jefferson on religion." (Quote from sacred-texts.com)
About the Author
"Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801-1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). He was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for a quarter-century. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789-1793) and second Vice President (1797-1801).
A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars This is Jefferson's Unitarian idea of what Jesus said and believed.
"The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth; The Jefferson Bible" is Thomas Jefferson's Unitarian idea of what Jesus said and believed. Jefferson's idea was simple, but deeply meaningful. Unitarians believe there is one God and that the notion of a 'Trinity' is mistaken. As a Unitarian, Jefferson had the idea of taking the four Gospels, as they were, and cutting out all mention of miracles or of Jesus being God. Jeferson bought two copies of the four Gospels and cut out and pasted together only those passages that quoted Jesus and showed his life and he discarded any direct mention of Jesus as God or anything about miracles. There was no mention of virgin birth or of resurection. Jefferson rearranged the passages, keeping similar themes together, in a logical fashion. What emerged was a book of sayings from a man, who was a philosopher and a teacher and who spoke to everyone about belief in God and moral behavior.
If one reads this short book, one finds, as Jefferson did, the teachings of Jesus, stripped of most of the ideas of others. Jefferson's idea had been very simple. However, the book is a wonderful teaching tool, that focuses on Jesus, separate from all that was not important to Jesus, the philosopher and teacher.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in what Jesus taught, rather than what the various Christian churches teach, today. If you are a Trinitarian Christian (Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, or Protestant), I believe that this book will not discourage your own faith, but will help you to understand Jesus and his own teachings.
5 Stars An interesting viewpoint!
This book can be used with bible study groups as an opposing viewpoint- Jesus is viewed by Thomas Jefferson as a person who had high morals. There is NOTHING supernatural in this, just all the great things that Jesus said. It really is interesting to see how the bible could be viewed by an atheist.
4 Stars Jefferson Bible
I was unaware that Jefferson had written this book, and was happy to discover it and add it to my library. His genius astounds and inspires.
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