Thomas Jefferson's Bible Mashup - Steven Johnson

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/01/17/Steven_Johnson_The_Invention_of_Air

Author Steven Johnson credits scientist Joseph Priestley's religious philosophy -- a balance of science and reason that valued morals over miracles -- as inspiration for Thomas Jefferson's "remix" of the Bible.

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Steven Johnson talks about his book, The Invention of Air.

Johnson recounts the story of Joseph Priestley -- scientist and theologian, protege of Benjamin Franklin -- an 18th-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the U.S. - Book Passage

Steven Johnson is the author of the US bestsellers Mind Wide Open and Emergence. His most recent book is The Invention of Air.

Johnson's writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He also writes for Discover magazine and Wired.com, and was co-founder of the award-winning websites FEED and Plastic.com.

He teaches at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and also hosts a weblog at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com.

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[ImperiusRex]

hmm, makes me want to find a copy of Thomas Jefferson's Bible.

[justicecallicles]

No, Obama used the same bible that Lincoln was sworn in with in 1861. (Though Lincoln didn't actually own it. It was purchased by Chief Justice Taney for the event.)

Apart from the history, is just a conventional 1853 printing by Oxford University Press. I do wish, though, that he had used a Jefferson Bible. It's the next best thing to using no bible at all.

[ProjektLament]

@SupremeAmerican Um, i see your reading comprehension skills are about as good as your arguing skills. Tell me, where did I say Romans didn't kill Christians? Can you copy and paste where I said that?

[SupremeAmerican]

@ProjektLament u just contradicted yourself. You said the romans didnt kill christians, they killed a race of people. I said they committed genocide against christians. Perhaps i could have rephrased it better. By saying. They tried to exterminate christians. That's right. The organized religion of christianity tried to exterminate the bible, and the followers of the bible. There. Now that your dishonesty and attempt at deception is exposed. How yee say now?

[ProjektLament]

@SupremeAmerican Oxford Dictionary: genocide-The systematic policy of destruction of a group or nation on grounds of race or ethnic origin.Christians are NOT a race, nation, or a ethnic group. I know the history and I know the meaning of words like genocide, which you apparently do not. Now prove to me how liking the words of someone is the same as worshiping him as the son of G-d? Or do you not know the meaning of the word worship either?I'm starting to think u don't know what religion means

[SupremeAmerican]

@ProjektLament has everything to do with jefferson. Jefferson didnt like organized religion. He liked the words of Jesus. He was the same type of christian the roman church killed. And yes the committed genocide. No it wasnt on a race of people are you retarded? It was on people who refused to accept paganism, and instead, embraced the teachings of Jesus. You don't even know this history do you? You are funny. Continue.

[ProjektLament]

@SupremeAmerican That proves that Jefferson was Christian how?u wouldn't know a proper argument if it slapped u in the face. Leave historical religious discussions up to us adults, k?Genocide is against a specific RACE of people, not religion.And while it is true that Bishops burned bibles they didn't like, because they were burned we can't know what was in them. The Council of Nicea determined what was christian and what wasn't. Which brings me back to WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH JEFFERSON?!

[SupremeAmerican]

@ProjektLament So when you say there is not a biblical version of xianity. You sir. Are wrong.

[SupremeAmerican]

@ProjektLament well you'd have to look at history first. For example. Rome killed christians, genocide attempted actually. Then they couldnt do it. So they made the roman catholic church in 350's ad. made it their government. If they caught any christians with gospel or other biblical texts, they would kill them. They killed millions. It wasnt untill well into the 1500's AD that the roman catholic church un-censored the bible. To this day China does the same thing.

[ProjektLament]

@SupremeAmerican Tell me how exactly I lost anything? Because I quoted facts? I couldn't care less about mythology be it Jesus or Zeus, idiocy is the only thing that pisses me off. Do you ever get tired of being wrong? I'm still waiting for you to prove me that I'm wrong about the tenets of the Christian faith. Your made up denomination of "Biblical Christianity" is nothing but nonsense. You resorting to declaring victory in arguments is a cop-out.

[SupremeAmerican]

@ProjektLament Funny. U lose the argument and result to character insults. Typical cop out. What's even funnier is how angry you get about Jesus. I love it!

[ProjektLament]

@SupremeAmerican I'm not arguing, you retard. It's a fact. "The biblical one," you have no idea what you're talking about so you are making things up now? I doubt you've even read the bible. Just stop typing before you reveal your ignorance further.