No doubt Jefferson has suffered at the hands of glib revisionists. But attempting to make this complex man a simple, reassuring and unambiguously admirable figure does no service to his reputation—or to the American past.

—Mr. Crawford is the author, most recently, of “Twilight at Monticello: The Final Years of Thomas Jefferson.”

And Crawford is among those with better than average credentials to criticize Barton. Add in ithe serious conservative nature of the WSJ and Barton should take a more serious attitude towards criticism such as this. But we know he won’t!

It all come down to Barton’s eisegesis versus everyone else’s exigesis.

I am confused by a poster on the WSJ article who says “Barton is a serious evangelical Christian and he is a careful historian” while then agreeing that Jefferson is not a Christian. It’s as if they man didn’t understand a thing about the article.

Mike Seaver – 0

Mike Seaver – 0