Imagine if George W. Bush Barack Obama took a copy of the Bible and cut out his favorite passages with scissors, glued them onto paper and said, “there, that’s a better version.” That probably might cause a bit of a stir, don’t you think?
Well, that’s exactly what Thomas Jefferson did to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He searched the Gospels for Jesus’ greatest teachings, tossing all of the miracles and inconsistencies into the wastebasket, and reassembled the clippings into what he called “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.” He titled it The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.
“I have performed the operation for my own use,” he wrote in a letter to John Adams, “by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter, which is evidently his and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dunghill.”
Of course, Jefferson kept his doctored version of the Gospels out of public eye and only shared it with friends and family, never meaning to have it published. Even in a time when Deism was a very popular belief system, Jefferson, no doubt, knew that a cut-and-paste version of the Bible might be something that a public figure would want to be associated with.
The Jefferson Bible was not published until well after his death in 1904 when Congress ordered the publication of 9,000 copies. Today, the Jefferson Bible is widely available online and in a number of print editions
In the Jefferson Bible, there’s no angel telling shepherds watching their flocks by night that a savior has been born. There is no water being turned into wine. No walking on water or feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jefferson retains the crucifixion but there is no resurrection. Jefferson’s book finishes this way: “There laid they Jesus, and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” The End
Happy birthday Mr. Jefferson, and thanks for your book.
Sources: My copy of The Jefferson Bible, The Religion of Thomas Jefferson, and good old Wikipedia
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This article is incomplete and portrays Jefferson in wrong light. Jefferson only cut out the “red letter” verses of the gospels, the actual quotes of Jesus. And the purpose was not to be used as a Bible, but to be a intro to Christianity for the Indians, thus the title, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” He was no heretic and did not claim his book to be his personal Bible, or better than the Bible. Check out this link and scroll towards the bottom to read the quote by Jefferson.
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=126
Luke,
Thanks for the info. But the “you blasphemous heretic you,” was meant as sarcasm.
I apologize if the blog post was misleading.
blasphemous !! Unbelievable