Telling Jefferson Lies

Watch for information about Season Two coming in 2025! Season one of the series was active from January-April, 2024.  Bonus episodes were periodically posted throughout the remainder of 2024. Please subscribe so you will be notified about Season Two in 2025. Telling Jefferson Lies chronicles how history can be hijacked for ideological and political purposes, as well as a much broader story about the surge of Christian nationalism and the misuse of history which often goes along with it.  The series begins with an in-depth consideration of the methods of Christian nationalist story teller David Barton. Then I tell the story of how his book on Jefferson was pulled from publication in 2012 and the response of evangelicals to that rare event. From there, I broaden the scope to examine the varieties of Christian nationalism and the negative consequences of this way of thinking about church and state. The last segment examines the reasons why the separation of church and state is good history, good civics, and good religion. For more information, go to http://www.gettingjeffersonright.com.

In January, 2024, the authors of Getting Jefferson Right brought you a look back at the events of 2012 which led to Thomas Nelson pulling David Barton’s The Jefferson Lies from publication. Some of that backstory had never been told. The first season featured interviews with the historians consulted by Jay Richards in order to make the case that Barton’s book didn’t have the facts.

We also expanded the scope of analysis to include revisionist history more broadly. Warren Throckmorton hosted the podcast and interviewed noted historians and writers such as George Marsden, Randall Balmer, Mark Noll, Charles Haynes, Jemar Tisby, John Fea, Katherine Stewart, Troy Jackson, Glenn Sunshine, Greg Forster, Glenn Moots, Gregg Frazer, Paul Matzko, Joel McDurmon, and David Austin Walsh to get their perspective on how David Barton and other Christian nationalists twist history to fit into a past usable for current political postures.

Getting Jefferson Right co-authors, Warren Throckmorton and Michael Coulter discuss their book project, and along with insights from guests such as Bob Smietana, offer suggestions for countering revisionist history in today’s polarized environment.