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Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Charles Thomson (January 9, 1816), on his The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (the "Jefferson Bible"), which omits all Biblical passages asserting Jesus' virgin birth, miracles, divinity, and resurrection. Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 11, pp. 498–499
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I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of d blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on earth, would not recognize one feature.

— Thomas Jefferson

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of d blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on earth, would not recognize one feature." in the context of "Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Charles Thomson (January 9, 1816), on his The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (the "Jefferson Bible"), which omits all Biblical passages asserting Jesus' virgin birth, miracles, divinity, and resurrection. Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 11, pp. 498–499" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Jesus" (Quotes about Jesus: Sorted by historical period and date, with sections for quotes from major religious works., The Nineteenth Century: Alphabetized by author) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 30, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jesus

About Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth (c. 4 BC - AD 30 / 33), also known as Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Yeshu, Jesu and Isa, is the central figure of Christianity, a philosopher and teacher. He is believed to have lived around modern Israel, around 1 AD, and to be the Messiah of ultimate salvation and the Son of God by followers of Christian traditions. Manichaeans, Gnostics, Muslims, Bahá'ís, and others have found prominent places for Jesus in their religions.

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