Thomas Jeffersons Religion

Author : Thomas Jefferson
Publisher : Wyatt North Publishing, LLC
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 122 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Jefferson Bible written by Thomas Jefferson and published by Wyatt North Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2014-01-05 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson in the latter years of his life by cutting and pasting numerous sections from various Bibles as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's composition excluded sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists. In 1895, the Smithsonian Institution under the leadership of librarian Cyrus Adler purchased the original Jefferson Bible from Jefferson's great-granddaughter Carolina Randolph for $400. A conservation effort commencing in 2009, in partnership with the museum's Political History department, allowed for a public unveiling in an exhibit open from November 11, 2011, through May 28, 2012, at the National Museum of American History.

Author : Denise Spellberg
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307388395
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an written by Denise Spellberg and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals a little-known but crucial dimension of the story of American religious freedom—a drama in which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, eleven years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire numerous books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and travel, taking extensive notes on Islam as it relates to English common law. Jefferson sought to understand Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and America. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could imagine Muslims as future citizens of his new country. Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas about the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in America. In this way, Muslims, who were not even known to exist in the colonies, became the imaginary outer limit for an unprecedented, uniquely American religious pluralism that would also encompass the actual despised minorities of Jews and Catholics. The rancorous public dispute concerning the inclusion of Muslims, for which principle Jefferson’s political foes would vilify him to the end of his life, thus became decisive in the Founders’ ultimate judgment not to establish a Protestant nation, as they might well have done. As popular suspicions about Islam persist and the numbers of American Muslim citizenry grow into the millions, Spellberg’s revelatory understanding of this radical notion of the Founders is more urgent than ever. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an is a timely look at the ideals that existed at our country’s creation, and their fundamental implications for our present and future.

Author : Harry Y. Gamble
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 0813944066
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book God on the Grounds written by Harry Y. Gamble and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Free-thinking Thomas Jefferson established the University of Virginia as a secular institution and stipulated that the University should not provide any instruction in religion. Yet over the course of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth, religion came to have a prominent place in the University, which today maintains the largest department of religious studies of any public university in America. Given his intentions, how did Jefferson's university undergo such remarkable transformations? In God on the Grounds, esteemed religious studies scholar Harry Gamble offers the first history of religion’s remarkably large role—both in practice and in study—at UVA. Jefferson’s own reputation as a religious skeptic and infidel was a heavy liability to the University, which was widely regarded as injurious to the faith and morals of its students. Consequently, the faculty and Board of Visitors were eager throughout the nineteenth century to make the University more religious. Gamble narrates the early, rapid, and ongoing introduction of religion into the University’s life through the piety of professors, the creation of the chaplaincy, the growth of the YMCA, the multiplication of religious services and meetings, the building of a chapel, and the establishment of a Bible lectureship and a School of Biblical History and Literature. He then looks at how—only in the mid-twentieth century—the University began to retreat from its religious entanglements and reclaim its secular character as a public institution. A vital contribution to the institutional history of UVA, God on the Grounds sheds light on the history of higher education in the United States, American religious history, and the development of religious studies as an academic discipline.

Author : Charles B. Sanford
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813911311
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Religious Life of Thomas Jefferson written by Charles B. Sanford and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1984 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People familiar with Jefferson's deism, Unitarianism and enthusiasm for Bible study do not seem to appreciate the importance of his religious beliefs to his political beliefs.

Author : John A. Ragosta
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 0813933714
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Religious Freedom written by John A. Ragosta and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over one hundred years, Thomas Jefferson and his Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom have stood at the center of our understanding of religious liberty and the First Amendment. Jefferson’s expansive vision—including his insistence that political freedom and free thought would be at risk if we did not keep government out of the church and church out of government—enjoyed a near consensus of support at the Supreme Court and among historians, until Justice William Rehnquist called reliance on Jefferson "demonstrably incorrect." Since then, Rehnquist’s call has been taken up by a bevy of jurists and academics anxious to encourage renewed government involvement with religion. In Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed, the historian and lawyer John Ragosta offers a vigorous defense of Jefferson’s advocacy for a strict separation of church and state. Beginning with a close look at Jefferson’s own religious evolution, Ragosta shows that deep religious beliefs were at the heart of Jefferson’s views on religious freedom. Basing his analysis on that Jeffersonian vision, Ragosta redefines our understanding of how and why the First Amendment was adopted. He shows how the amendment’s focus on maintaining the authority of states to regulate religious freedom demonstrates that a very strict restriction on federal action was intended. Ultimately revealing that the great sage demanded a firm separation of church and state but never sought a wholly secular public square, Ragosta provides a new perspective on Jefferson, the First Amendment, and religious liberty within the United States.

Author : Thomas Jefferson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book "Ye Will Say I Am No Christian" written by Thomas Jefferson and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents and analyzes the correspondence between the second and third U.S. presidents on religion and related themes from 1787 to 1826, assessing their views on the relationship between government and religion.

Author : Mark A. Beliles
Publisher : Morgan James Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1630471518
Total Pages : 521 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Doubting Thomas? written by Mark A. Beliles and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-21 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A religious historian argues that historical revisionism has distorted the religious views of Thomas Jefferson, making him appear far more skeptical than he was. Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers intended a strict separation of church and state, right? He would have been very upset to find out about a child praying in a public school or a government building used for religious purposes, correct? Actually, the history on this has been very distorted. The standard accepted story on the faith of Thomas Jefferson (or the lack thereof) is not accurate. While he did harbor some doubts about orthodox Christianity by the end of his life, he was actually quite active in supporting the church in America. Meanwhile, in his name today, because of a misunderstanding about “the separation of church and state” (a phrase that comes from an obscure letter he wrote), religious expression is being curtailed all over the place in modern America. And he would absolutely object to that, as seen in his own actions and writings. While Jefferson may seem to be the patron saint of the ACLU, his words and actions showed that he would totally disagree with the idea of driving God out of the public square. Doubting Thomas documents that. In short, it’s time to set the record straight.

Author : Peter Manseau
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691205698
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Jefferson Bible written by Peter Manseau and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Edwin S. Gaustad
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780802801562
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sworn on the Altar of God written by Edwin S. Gaustad and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1996-01-03 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography, part of the acclaimed Library of Religious Biography, treats the religious significance of Thomas Jefferson, first by examining Jefferson's steady dedication to the cause of religious liberty, and second, by exploring Jefferson's private effort to reform the nature of religion.

Author : N. C. Hovland
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 1312446943
Total Pages : 70 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Thomas Jefferson's Religion written by N. C. Hovland and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the world we live in today, many people question what kind of beliefs our Founding Fathers truly held. Were they really Christians? Were they deists? Were they atheists? In this book, N. C. Hovland takes the reader on a journey into history to determine what beliefs Thomas Jefferson held during his lifetime. To do this, Hovland reexamines many of the writings of Jefferson from various stages of his life, including personal letters, journal entries, and some of his more famous writings. Sometimes the only way to determine the truth today is to seek out and study the events of the past.