One man (Jefferson) takes razor & glue to the NT. Why? Because he wants to reconstruct it in a way to better reflect his sensibilities, most particularly Christ's "moral code".

Problems?

1) The NT wasn't/isn't/never will be about a "moral code" - Christ's or otherwise. Nope, it's all about the fact that Christ, and Christ alone, could die to pay for our sins. Christ as propitiation & Redeemer.

2) What Jefferson did was in direct contradiction to Biblical admonition against adding to/subtracting from the Word of God (Dt 4:2 & Rev 22:18-19).

In other words, TJ's NT is merely a man-made work of fiction with no more authority than _The Davinci Code_, or _The Book of Mormon_.

So, to speculate on its potential impact in the early 19th Century is certainly (well, *possibly*) fascinating, but it in no way because the book was Christian or an accurate depiction/take on Christian doctrine.

-ghp