Thomas Jefferson's Views and Religious Labels

Thomas Jefferson's views have led many to conclude that he was an atheist, as recently as in the work of Christopher Hitchens. But the third President has also been labeled a deist, a Unitarian, and a Christian.

Philosopher and theologian Stephen Vicchio takes on the challenge of analyzing Jefferson's writings in detail to see if any of these appellations is fitting. The author finds that Jefferson's two volumes on the New Testament Gospels (A Syllabus of an Estimate of the Merit of the Doctrines of Jesus and The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth) reveal a great deal concerning the theological perspective of this famous American statesman.