The Jefferson Bible

by Thomas Jefferson

Overview

Thomas Jefferson completed this book in around 1820, when he was 77 years old. His aim was to reveal the most genuine teachings from the New Testament. He was trying to find the very essence of the Christian faith and to share it in its clearest form. This was done by carefully cutting out and pasting together chosen verses from the four main gospels into what was, in its final version, an 82-page book. Once finished, it was bound together but never produced for distribution. After Jefferson passed away the book remained hidden within his family until a man named Cyrus Adler purchased it in 1895 for the National Museum, which is known today as the Smithsonian Institution. Soon after, Iowa Representative John Lacey found it and sponsored a resolution to print it for the private use of Congressional members. This long lost, legendary book rolled off the press for the first time in 1904. When copies were distributed to Congress in 1905, it started a tradition which lasted for half a century. Each new Senator and Representative was given a copy at their swearing in ceremony with every new Congress. One no longer needs to be a member of Congress in order to experience the beliefs of this brilliant third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585093649
Publisher:	Book Tree, The
Publication date:	03/09/2016
Pages:	130
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.28(d)

About the Author

PERCIVAL EVERETT is the author of fifteen novels, among them The Water Cure, Erasure, and Glyph. He is the author of the poetry collection Abstraktion und Einfühlung, the coauthor of A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel), and provided annotations for Akashic’s publication of The Jefferson Bible. He is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California and lives in the Los Angeles area.

Editorial Reviews

Mitch Horowitz gives a sober and serious reading of this “Gospel according to Thomas [Jefferson].” Concentrating solely on the moral philosophy of Jesus, Jefferson in about 1803 begin a compilation of the life of Jesus from the four Gospels by removing any references to the supernatural and putting into chronological order incidents from Jesus’s life as well as his teachings. This edition also includes the introduction from the 1940 edition by Douglas Lurton, which provides historical background to this work. Horowitz’s commendable performance is suited to the text; his performance is even-keeled and quite rational, with suitable inflection in dialogue and a deliberate pace in the narrative sections. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2012 - AudioFile

Mitch Horowitz gives a sober and serious reading of this “Gospel according to Thomas [Jefferson].” Concentrating solely on the moral philosophy of Jesus, Jefferson in about 1803 begin a compilation of the life of Jesus from the four Gospels by removing any references to the supernatural and putting into chronological order incidents from Jesus’s life as well as his teachings. This edition also includes the introduction from the 1940 edition by Douglas Lurton, which provides historical background to this work. Horowitz’s commendable performance is suited to the text; his performance is even-keeled and quite rational, with suitable inflection in dialogue and a deliberate pace in the narrative sections. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2012 - AudioFile