"Ye will say I am no Christian" : the Thomas Jefferson/John Adams correspondence on religion, morals, and values / edited by Bruce Braden. [print]

The Correspondence 23 -- 1 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 10, 1787): Reformations 23 -- 2 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 10, 1812): Prophecies 23 -- 3 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (April 20, 1812): Richmond and Wabash prophets 25 -- 4 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 1, 1812): Charges of corruption 27 -- 5 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 3, 1812): Spreading delusions 27 -- 6 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (June 11, 1812): Indian traditions 28 -- 7 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 28, 1812): Indian metaphysical science 32 -- 8 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (October 12, 1812): New England histories/Wollaston 36 -- 9 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (December 28, 1812): Wollaston/Thomas Morton 42 -- 10 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (May 27, 1813): Death of Benjamin Rush/Indian origins 48 -- 11 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 29, 1813): Unitarians/Lindsey's memoirs 51 -- 12 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 10, 1813): Letter to Dr. Joseph Priestley 53 -- 13 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 11, 1813): The living and the dead 55 -- 14 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (June 15, 1813): Enemies of reform 55 -- 15 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 25, 1813): Spiritual tyranny beginning 58 -- 16 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 28, 1813): Denunciations of the priesthood 60 -- 17 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 30, 1813): Terrorism of the day 64 -- 18 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 1813): The most lying tongue 68 -- 19 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 9, 1813): Histories are annihilated 70 -- 20 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 13, 1813): Inequalities of mind and body 73 -- 21 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 15, 1813): The progress of the human mind 75 -- 22 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 16, 1813): Promise to Benjamin Rush 77 -- 23 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 18, 1813): More to say on religion 80 -- 24 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 22, 1813): Dr. Priestley says ... 83 -- 25 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (August 9, 1813): Bible compared with other scripture 85 -- 26 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (August [14?] 1813): Theognis lived 540 years before Jesus 86 -- 27 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (August 22, 1813): The basis for my own faith 87 -- 28 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 14, 1813): Ye will say I am no Christian 89 -- 29 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 15, 1813): No mind, but one, can see 93 -- 30 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 22, 1813): Zeno and his disciples too Christian? 94 -- 31 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September [or October 4., 1813): How much of Judeo-Christianity was learned from Babylon, Egypt, and Persia 96 -- 32 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (October 12, 1813): Cutting verse by verse out 98 -- 33 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (October 28, 1813): Natural versus artificial aristocracy 101 -- 34 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (November 14, 1813): A second set of Ten Commandments 108 -- 35 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (November 15, 1813): Aristocracies 111 -- 36 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 3, 1813): Honor the gods established by law 118 -- 37 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 25, 1813): I return to Priestley 124 -- 38 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (January 24, 1814): Such tricks have been played 129 -- 39 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 1814): Looking into Oriental history and Hindoo religion 133 -- 40 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (July 5, 1814): Use of Plato to construct artificial Christianity 138 -- 41 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 16, 1814): Platonic Christianity has received a mortal wound 140 -- 42 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 19, 1815): Science, religion, government need reform 142 -- 43 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 20, 1815): Whether priests and kings shall rule by fictional miracles 144 -- 44 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 22, 1815): Acts of the saints (Acta Sanctorum) 146 -- 45 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (August 10, 1815): Acta Sanctorum: A mass of lies, a farrago of falsehood 151 -- 46 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (August 24, 1815): Acta Sanctorum: A most complete history of the corruption of Christianity 152 -- 47 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (November 13, 1815): Another St. Bartholomew's Day threatened 152 -- 48 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (January 11, 1816): Arts and sciences soften and correct the manners and morals of men 154 -- 49 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 2, 1816): The people wish to be deceived 156 -- 50 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (March 2, 1816): Who and what is this Fate? 160 -- 51 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (April 8, 1816): A good world on the whole 163 -- 52 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 3, 1816): If "afterlife" is fraud, we shall never know it 166 -- 53 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 6, 1816): Use of grief/Grimm/Pascal/History of Jesus 170 -- 54 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (August 1, 1816): Dreams of the future better than history of the past 174 -- 55 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (August 9, 1816): Van der Kemp/Quality of life/Jesuits 176 -- 56 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 3, 1816): Cross most fatal example of abuse of grief 178 -- 57 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 30, 1816): Priestley on Dupuis's Origin of All Cults 181 -- 58 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (October 14, 1816): Essence of virtue is in doing good to others 182 -- 59 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (November 4, 1816): Purify Christendom from corruptions 185 -- 60 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (November 25, 1816): Bible societies 186 -- 61 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 12, 1816): Be just and good 187 -- 62 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 16, 1816): Greatest fictions immortalized in art 188 -- 63 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (January 11, 1817): They supposed they knew my religion 190 -- 64 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 2, 1817): Passions and interests generally prevail 191 -- 65 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (April 19, 1817): I never can be a misanthrope 192 -- 66 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (May 5, 1817): Resurrection of Connecticut to light 194 -- 67 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 18, 1817): You think Protestant Popedom is annihilated in America? 195 -- 68 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 26, 1817): Controversy between spiritualists and materialists 197 -- 69 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 15, 1817): I choose to laugh 199 -- 70 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (October 10, 1817): Will their religion allow it? 199 -- 71 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (January 28, 1818): A mind too inquisitive for Connecticut 200 -- 72 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (May 17, 1818): I am glad he is gone to Kentucky 201 -- 73 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 29, 1818): His system is founded in hope, not fear 202 -- 74 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (July 18, 1818): Dr.

Mayhew 202 -- 75 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (October 20, 1818): The dear partner of my life lies in extremis 203 -- 76 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (November 13, 1818): I know well and feel what you have lost 204 -- 77 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 8, 1818): If I did not believe in a future state 204 -- 78 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (January 29, 1819): How has it happened? 205 -- 79 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 13, 1819): Abolish polytheism 205 -- 80 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (March 21, 1819): Eccentricities of planets 206 -- 81 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 21, 1819): The world is dead 206 -- 82 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (December 10, 1819): Follow truth, eschew error 207 -- 83 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 21, 1819): To render all prayer futile 207 -- 84 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (January 20, 1820): God: An essence we know nothing of 208 -- 85 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (March 14, 1820): The ablest metaphysicians 208 -- 86 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 12, 1820): The cause of all is beyond conception 210 -- 87 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (August 15, 1820): This heresy of immaterialism 88 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (January 22, 1821): We prescribe a cure for others 213 -- 89 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 3, 1821): Free government and the Roman Catholic religion can never exist together 215 -- 90 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (May 19, 1821): Surrender hope 216 -- 91 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (September 24, 1821): Hope springs eternal 217 -- 92 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (June 1, 1822): When all our faculties are gone, is death an evil?/War 217 -- 93 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (June 11, 1822): Death is a blessing/Globe is a theater of war 219 -- 94 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (March 10, 1823): Right and justice have hard fare 219 -- 95 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (April 11, 1823): Virgin birth of Jesus classed with fable 220 -- 96 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (August 15, 1823): Dr. Priestley came to breakfast 224 -- 97 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (September 4, 1823): Art of printing changed the world 226 -- 98 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (October 12, 1823): The evening of our lives 226 -- 99 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams (January 8, 1825): Experiments on the nervous system/Soul? 227 -- 100 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (January 22, 1825): This awful blasphemy 229 -- 101 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (January 23, 1825): Liberty of conscience, right of free inquiry 230 -- 102 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (February 25, 1825): I like him much for his curiosity 231 -- 103 John Adams to Thomas Jefferson (December 1, 1825): Rather go forward, meet what is to come 231.

The "Culture Wars" have produced a lot of talk about religion, morals, and values, with both sides often hearkening back to our Founding Fathers. Here is your chance to learn firsthand what two of the most influential pillars of the American Republic thought about these perennial topics. From 1812 to July 4, 1826 - when ironically death claimed both men - Thomas Jefferson and John Adams exchanged letters touching on these still controversial issues.These little-known letters contain many surprising revelations. In the 1800 presidential election, in which the Republican Jefferson opposed the Federalist Adams, religion was a topic of hot debate, as reflected in this correspondence written many years after. What was it about Jefferson's religious beliefs that provoked such vitriol against him in the campaign? And what was there in Adams's theology that prompted certain Calvinists and Trinitarians to label him "no Christian"? Though they expressed different opinions, Jefferson and Adams agreed on what they called the "corruptions of Christianity." Despite their criticisms and their critics, both men considered themselves Christians, in different senses of the term.Hearing these champions of liberty and freedom of religion speak out frankly on church and state, the Bible, Jesus, Christianity, morality, and virtue, modern readers may well ask themselves whether either of these Founding Fathers could today be elected president. Editor Bruce Braden has done us all a service by collecting this revealing and intimate historical correspondence on topics that continue to stir emotions and debate in the 21st century. ~ Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Say-Christian-Jefferson-Correspondence/dp/1591023564/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9781591023562&qid=1626806963&sr=8-1

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