The Jefferson Bible 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 Jefferson, who had no desire to preach, refused to let his Bible beyond a circle of close friends, and it remained unpublished until 1895. Today, it is one of the most astonishing, if oblique, works of cultural and theological criticism. He was an author, statesman, and third president of the United States, a deist, a believer in at best, a watchmaker god, one who did not take a personal interest in the goings-on of humanity.
