Jefferson's Bible

The American Enlightenment saw a movement away from the traditional religious views of the past and towards a more reasonable and logical view of the world. One of the best examples of this idea comes from one of America’s Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson. Late in Jefferson’s life, he began to create his own version of the Bible which he titled “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” (Posten). He was attempting to create a more coherent story that allowed the four Gospels to flow together. However, Jefferson decided to leave out all mention of Jesus’ miracles and anything that suggested the supernatural. Jefferson was trying to portray “Jesus as a teacher, but having nothing to do with the divine or as a prophet with a  link to the divine” (Posten).

Jefferson’s Bible exemplifies the main idea of the Enlightenment. Being a Deist, Jefferson believed in a deity that created the world then left it to its own devices. He only saw Jesus as a man that could not perform miracles. Taking a scientific approach, Jefferson could not understand the miracles described in the Bible with logic and reason, so he felt he had to disregard them.

Jefferson’s Bible was kept secret and passed to his relatives for nearly one hundred years before finally being discovered by a librarian at the Smithsonian (Discovery). The Bible was then published a few years later and made available to the public. The original copy is kept at the Smithsonian but has recently been on display at the National Museum of American History. The Smithsonian has customarily given a copy of Jefferson’s Bible to new members of Congress.

Works Cited

"How Did the "Jefferson Bible" Get Published? - Curiosity." Curiosity. DiscoveryChannel, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how jefferson-bible-get-published>.

Posten, Bruce. "The Story behind Thomas Jefferson's Refashioned Bible." Reading Eagle RSS. Reading Eagle Press, 2 July 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=317728>.

- Koty Morgan