The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth

Better known as a Founding Father of the United States, and its third president, Thomas Jefferson maintained an abiding interest in philosophy and religion. In 1804 he conceived the idea of collating the story of Jesus found in the four Gospels, and of dissecting away their more wordy and (for him) overly-magical aspects, so as to reveal the fundamental tenets of the moral system promulgated by Christ.

Following a false start, and many delays, he began anew in 1819 and produced the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, the essential ethical philosophy of the Saviour, shorn of miracles or supernatural interventions. For Jefferson it was enough: there remained “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man… A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen.”

This is a book for anyone interested in Christianity and the root-precepts of its founder. There is much to ponder here for both Believer and sceptic alike.