The gospel according to Jefferson

Encouraged by his political rival John Adams and working in the White House in 1804, Jefferson set about editing the gospels in an attempt to reveal the kernel of true religion in story of the life of Jesus. The president was convinced that the authentic message of Jesus could be found only by extracting from those texts Jesus' message of absolute love and service; he had no patience with ephemera such as the annunciation, virgin birth, or even the resurrection. Completed in 1819, the work has been contrasted by some historians with Thomas Paine's near contemporary publication 'The age of reason'. This re-edition (which includes an introduction by Pulitzer Prize nominee, Forrest Church) sheds interesting light on the logic of Thomas Jefferson and his view of the gospels.