The Jefferson Bible, Peter Manseau
The Jefferson Bible, Peter Manseau
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The Jefferson Bible
A Biography

Author: Peter Manseau

Narrator: Kerry Shale

Unabridged: 5 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/2020

Synopsis

This audiobook narrated by Kerry Shale traces the life and times of a uniquely American testament In his retirement, Thomas Jefferson edited the New Testament with a penknife and glue, removing all mention of miracles and other supernatural events. Inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, Jefferson hoped to reconcile Christian tradition with reason by presenting Jesus of Nazareth as a great moral teacher—not a divine one. Peter Manseau tells the story of the Jefferson Bible, exploring how each new generation has reimagined the book in its own image as readers grapple with both the legacy of the man who made it and the place of religion in American life. Completed in 1820 and rediscovered by chance in the late nineteenth century after being lost for decades, Jefferson's cut-and-paste scripture has meant different things to different people. Some have held it up as evidence that America is a Christian nation founded on the lessons of the Gospels. Others see it as proof of the Founders' intent to root out the stubborn influence of faith. Manseau explains Jefferson's personal religion and philosophy, shedding light on the influences and ideas that inspired him to radically revise the Gospels. He situates the creation of the Jefferson Bible within the broader search for the historical Jesus, and examines the book's role in American religious disputes over the interpretation of scripture. Manseau describes the intrigue surrounding the loss and rediscovery of the Jefferson Bible, and traces its remarkable reception history from its first planned printing in 1904 for members of Congress to its persistent power to provoke and enlighten us today.

About Peter Manseau

Peter Manseau, born in 1974, is a novelist, memoirist, and historian and serves as Curator of Religion at the Smithsonian Institution. His first novel, Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, won the National Jewish Book Award, the American Library Association's Sophie Brody Medal, and the Ribalow Prize. A Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, it was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize as well as France's Prix Medicis Étranger, and has also been published in Spain, Italy, Israel, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Along with his novels, Manseau is the author of eight nonfiction books. He lives with his family in Annapolis, Maryland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Israel

Was Thomas Jefferson a heretic and anti-Semite? Often when I hear people wanting to destroy statues of historical figures and burn books of authors who mentioned something they considered wrong, even though these men and women also did good things and are part of our history, I wonder what they woul......more

Goodreads review by Fraser

The Jefferson Bible was a largely private (at least, never really intended to be published widely) project by Thomas Jefferson to edit down the New Testament to a core text that was in closer alignment with Jefferson’s own Enlightenment values. It turns out this means more than just removing any sup......more

Goodreads review by Nathan

This entire book never failed to interest me. I loved hearing about every part of the story of Jefferson's little book. The bit about David Barton toward the end was interesting because of my familiarity with Barton over the years. But the best bit of the whole book was the author's analysis of what y......more

Goodreads review by Susan

I read "The Jefferson Bible" when I was young. This book gives the history of how Jefferson came to create it. I found the background information to be very interesting, especially the different authors that Jefferson was reading at the time. You can dislike Jefferson and find this thing interesting......more

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