[Looking at why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.]

Did Thomas Jefferson really take scissors to the Bible?

Jefferson was a strong advocate of Native American education. Jefferson’s programs to the southeast Nations, were to the people called ‘the Five Civilized Tribes,’ a generation later.

Recall in a recent article, Jefferson supported the work of Rev. Gideon Blackburn setting up schools to the Cherokee in Tennessee. Jefferson directed federal involvement in the work of missionaries among the Native Americans.

During Jefferson’s time, no Native American group had a written language. Most, like Sequoyah, could not read or write English. Therefore, they did not have access to the common textbook of the time, the Christian Bible.

Arguably the most intellectual President, Jefferson prepared a primer for teaching Native Americans. Without computers, typewriters or other tools, he literally cut excerpts from the Bible. Jefferson then arranged and pasted them in order, to tell the story of Jesus’s life, parables, and moral teachings.

Where do you think the term ‘cut and paste’ comes from?

John March of Georgetown bound “The Philosophy of Jesus”, Jefferson’s 46- page volume. In a 12 October 1813 letter to John Adams, Jefferson said he created the volume of ‘pure and unsophisticated doctrines, such as were professed and acted on by the unlettered apostles, the Apostolic fathers, and the Christians of the 1st. century.’ Who makes similar first century statements, today?

Although an extant copy does not exist, a manuscript has the full title with sub text as “The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth: extracted from the account of his life and doctrines as given by Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John. Being an abridgement of the New Testament for the use of the Indians unembarrassed with matters of fact or faith beyond the level of their comprehensions.”

At age 77, Jefferson arranged the second edition, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English.” Unfortunately, some have called the primer “The Jefferson Bible,” but he had no intention of such a moniker or claim.

Referring to the first edition, Jefferson acknowledged ‘…the last I attempted too hastily some 12 or 15 years ago. It was the work of 2 or 3 nights only at Washington, after getting thro’ the evening task of reading the letters and papers of the day.’

The second edition included an account of Jesus’ life, but was much more intellectual, suitable for his own rumination. He placed four columns with Greek and Latin on the left page and French with English King James Version on the right page. The verse sequence of events followed William Newcome’s “A Harmony in Greek of the Gospels,” published in 1778.

According to the Monticello official site (Monticello.org), “‘The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth’ was very likely among the works on morality that Jefferson read every evening before retiring to bed. He wrote in 1819, ‘I never go to bed without an hour, or half hour’s previous reading of something moral, whereon to ruminate in the intervals of sleep.’” Have you read the Book?

In the “Foreword” of the “Jefferson Bible,” Donald S. Harrington wrote, ‘He (Jefferson) was passionately devoted to the gospel of Jesus, which stirred him to the depths of his being and was the most powerful motive force in his life.’

One historical issue is difficult for us to comprehend, today. Jefferson’s home of British Virginia was staunchly under the control of the Church of England, even fining people for not attending that Church.

In 1775, Baptists with other dissenters presented a petition including 10,000 signatures calling for abolishment of the state church. In 1776, Virginia disestablished the Church of England and dissenters received exemption from attending and paying taxes to that Church. In 1777 Jefferson wrote a “Bill of Religious Freedom,” which Madison championed.

Jefferson was ‘radical reform’ persuasion corresponding with Dissenters and Separatists. He was an occasional attender of Albemarle Baptist Church near Monticello. The pastor, Andrew Tribble, even dined with Jefferson at Monticello. Albemarle Church sent him a letter welcoming him back to Monticello on his retirement. (archives.gov) Does that help clarify the denigration of Jefferson’s religion?

Explaining his divergence from the Church of England, he wrote in several letters, like this statement to Mr. Charles Thompson, ‘It is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists…’ (Augustine and Calvin).

‘The Government Printing Office published a facsimile of the Jefferson Bible in 1904 which was distributed to the two chambers of Congress. Following elections each newly elected senator was presented with a copy of the book until the supply ran out in the 1950’s.’ (thejeffersonbible.com/)

The more outspoken a person is, and the more he writes, the more likely he gets mis-interpreted. Jefferson wrote a friend, ‘I know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of those who make every work from me a text for new misrepresentation and calumnies.’

Our understanding of history must be in context. It is extremely difficult to get proper information from improperly interpreted history.

The world-view of the historian can skew the understanding, particularly if the historian has a different view and agenda.

Think about Jefferson’s work the next time you ‘cut and paste.’

Excerpts from our book:

Separatists, Spinoza, & Scientists, The Mavericks of Intellectual Freedom, ISBN: 9781797744827