Thread by @d3bach

It is NOT true that #ThomasJefferson excised ALL of Jesus’ miracles from his so-called “bibles” (abridgements of the Gospels). Even if it was true, it is not entirely clear to me what it says about Jefferson or his goals in abridging the Gospels. #JeffersonBible

“Life and Morals of Jesus,” e.g., one of Jefferson’s “bibles,” includes Luke 14:4 (in French), reporting that Jesus healed a man with dropsy. (NB: the precise contents of "Philosophy of Jesus,” another Jefferson “bible,” is unknown, but its table of texts includes Luke 14:1-6.)

“Jefferson Bible” is a title some have given to one or both of two abridgements of the Gospels created by Thomas Jefferson, circa 1804 and 1820 respectively, by cutting selected passages from printed New Testaments, rearranging them, and then pasting them onto blank pages. #Bible

It is true that Jefferson’s two abridgements of the Gospels, “Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth” and “Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” emphasized Jesus’ moral teachings, in Jesus’ own words, & largely avoided his miracles. They emphasized his teachings rather than his deeds.

The conventional view is that, in keeping with Jefferson’s natural religion, his project was to portray the authentic, historical Jesus divested of ALL accounts of miracles. TJ thought reports of supernatural, miraculous events were the fabrications of Jesus’ fanatical followers.

#ThomasJefferson thought Jesus was a great moral teacher; but he was convinced that aspects of what is recorded in the Gospels were fanciful fabrications “of things impossible” and superstitions that Jesus’ corrupt followers (or “pseudo-followers”) “falsely imputed to him.”

If Thomas Jefferson’s purpose for preparing his abridgements of the Gospels was to present a digest of Jesus’ philosophy or to create a handbook of Jesus’ ethics and moral teachings, would one expect Jefferson to retain accounts of the miracles? Probably not. #JeffersonBible

The full title of “The Philosophy of Jesus,” extracted from accounts “given by Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John,” states that this “abridgement of the New Testament [was] for the use of the Indians unembarrassed with matters of fact or faith beyond the level of their comprehensions.”

There is evidence that Jefferson was genuinely interested in education for native people, and the abridgement may have been intended for this purpose. Some commentators argue that TJ used the term “Indians” as a code word for his Federalist and clerical critics. #JeffersonBible

Pres. Jefferson offered a prospectus for his Gospel project in a Jan 29, 1804 letter: give “a digest of [Jesus’] moral doctrines, extracted in his own words from the Evangelists, & leaving out everything relative to his personal history & character. It would be short & precious.”

In private correspondence, Thomas Jefferson described his “wee little book,” “The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth” (1804), and discussed his methods and objectives in preparing it. “The Philosophy of Jesus” was the first of his two abridgements of the Gospels. #JeffersonBible

“...I had taken the four evangelists, had cut out from them every text they had recorded of the moral precepts of Jesus, and arranged them...as fragments...of the most sublime edifice of morality which had ever been exhibited to man.” Th. Jefferson to Charles Clay, 29 Jan. 1815

“I too have made a wee little book,...which I call the Phil. of Jesus. It is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the [Gospels], & arranging them..., in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen.”

“I made, for my own satisfaction, an Extract from the Evangelists of the texts of his morals, selecting those only whose style&spirit proved them genuine,& his own: & they are as distinguishable from the matter in which they are imbedded as diamonds in dunghills.” TJ, 25 Apr 1816

I end where I began: TJ did NOT excise ALL miracles from his “bibles.” Did he leave in miracles by mistake? Did he deemphasize miracles because his project was about Jesus’ ethics, not his deeds? There are unanswered questions about TJ’s editorial agenda for his Gospel projects.