Thomas Jefferson, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French, & English

Jefferson, Thomas · ca 1820

Around 1820 Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted verses from the New Testament to create this work, <i>The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French, & English</i>. His purpose was to distill Jesus' ethical teachings from accounts of miracles and other elements that he considered distortions of Jesus' history and thought. Jefferson was a Deist--he believed in a Creator but did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. He thought he could distinguish between Jesus' true message and the apostles' later additions or misunderstandings by using reason as a guide.