US Christian Religious Book: "The Jefferson Bible"

This US Christian book is called The Jefferson Bible.

At age 77, US President Thomas Jefferson created a book of moral lessons drawn from the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. Jefferson cut verses from editions of the New Testament in English, French, Greek and Latin. He pasted these onto loose blank pages, which were then bound to make a book. He arranged them to tell a chronological and edited story of Jesus's life, parables, and moral teaching. He did not include miracles that Jesus had been said to perform or the Resurrection. Through this distillation Jefferson sought to clarify Jesus's teachings, which he believed provided "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man." He titled his volume The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth; it has become known as the Jefferson Bible.

The Christian faith is based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus or Christ. Jesus, (7–2 BC/BCE – 30–36 AD/CE), is the central figure of Christianity. Most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son.

The principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the four canonical gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The gospels declare that Jesus was a Jew born in Bethlehem, in the Roman province of Judea. At the age of 30, he began to preach throughout Palestine, which was then under Roman rule. The gospels describe miracles that Jesus performed such as raising the dead.

Most critical historians agree that Jesus was a Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer. He was crucified in Jerusalem, on the orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. Christians believe that Jesus then rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, from which he will return.

The Bible, from the Greek "tà biblía," meaning the books, is a collection of texts considered sacred in Judaism as well as in Christianity. The exact contents of each of the religions' collections of texts is not the same. The number of books in Christian Bibles ranges in size depending on the denomination.

Christianity is the dominant religion of the U.S., introduced with the European colonial powers in the 1500s and 1600s. The Spanish brought Catholicism to their settlements in Florida. Colonists from England and Northern Europe brought Protestantism to the territories that would eventually become the original 13 colonies. Some 75 percent of Americans say they are Christian.


Source:
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition) "Jesus Christ." Children's Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2010. 297. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 July 2013. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lapl.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX1796500200&v=2.1&u=lapl&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Christianity_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Jeffersons-Bible.html#ixzz2ZuB6jbCr http://americanhistory.si.edu/JeffersonBible/history/page-4.cfm