The Reading Desk

The Jefferson Bible for the 21st Century

The Jefferson Bible for the 21st Century is now available – visit my estore page to download a digital, paperback, podcast, or audiobook version!

The Bible has many modern versions, carefully reconstructed into modern English (and other languages) from the ancient texts. Derivative works however, almost never get that level of attention. Thomas Jefferson’s somewhat chronological treatment of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, with the rest of the parables and teachings of Jesus (like the Lord’s Prayer) has helped many discover the core teachings of Jesus without the rest of the theological sideshow.

This is why I rewrote this literary classic. But let me give you some additional reasons why I think this is important.

1)  I’m a writer, and I took it as a writing challenge.  The nearly-Shakespearean King James Version (KJV) is very comforting to many people, but I often find that it turns off many people who would otherwise be interested in the subject.  After 200 years, I simply felt it could use an update.

2)  It can help people.  While Christians look at me funny when I try to explain this project, it is an attempt to get more people interested in a historical Jesus that is more approachable – without the distractions that Jefferson clearly felt were added in by the early church fathers.  I don’t know what actually happened in the first century – that’s the real question of faith – but I feel the simple messages of Jesus have a resounding impact in life today if you let them.

3) This project started out as an audiobook project. It is extraordinarily difficult to effectively read the old text when many of the words used are not in the common vernacular of today’s youth, and the grammar rules and sentence rhythms are far more cumbersome than today’s English.

Support this project

Visit the eStore tab and at least look at the other eBook, audiobook and paperback versions of this and other projects listed. It’s not about the money really, but my I am not always fully employed, and a few extra dollars helps with groceries. A workman is worthy of his wages, isn’t he?

Smashwords has created a way for you to help push this project forward:   an affiliate program!  The simple deal is that if you choose to link to my eBook on Smashwords, you will receive 11% commission on every sale from those visits from your site(s).  You don’t need permission from me, and the link above goes directly to the Smashwords documentation.  You’ll be paid within 48 hours of each sale!

License Information

Unless indicated otherwise within any released edition (paper or electronic), most editions of the Jefferson Bible for the 21st Century are released under the Creative Commons license that you may review at creativecommons.org (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike). Proper attribution will include the author [Timothy Pontious] and provide a link back to thereadingdesk.com.

For any other information visit the project’s home page at JeffBible21.com or send email to info at thereadingdesk.com.

Thanks!
God bless.