Telling Jefferson Lies Podcast Series Coming in January 2024
Listen to trailers for the series now wherever you get your podcasts
(Trailer = 2.5 minutes)
Since Mike Johnson became Speaker of the House, the profile of right wing political operative David Barton has increased dramatically. It is quite a story; Barton’s book on Jefferson — The Jefferson Lies — was removed from publication by Christian publisher Thomas Nelson in 2012 due to historical errors. Now, he is advising the Speaker of the House. What a difference a decade makes.
In many of the recent articles on Barton, the fact that his book was pulled in 2012 has been mentioned. However, the story behind it has only been hinted at or not mentioned at all. That will change with the advent of a new podcast which begins officially next month. I intend Telling Jefferson Lies to be a podcast series which tells the backstory of why and how The Jefferson Lies was pulled from publication, the aftermath of that event, the conspiracy of silence among right-wing organizations which quickly followed, and then the rise of Christian nationalism which has been years in the making.
I also want to expand our vision. Barton is just the latest manifestation of Christian nationalist historical revisionism which goes back a long way. In like manner, Michael Coulter and I are just two of many in a long line of debunkers who have demonstrated the factual flaws in Christian nationalist historical fiction. For reasons we and our guests will discuss, these Christian nationalist myths are highly resistant to fact-checking. Nonetheless, we continue to try.
The series begins with a look at who David Barton is in the context of the Christian nationalist project. Then I tell the story of the rise and fall of The Jefferson Lies. Part of that story is how Michael Coulter and I decided to put together Getting Jefferson Right in a space of about six months. The whole process was personally pretty taxing.
Then, I dwell on some of the errors Christian nationalist historians, especially Barton, make. One of the key errors relates to the whitewashing of slavery and African American history in the U.S. The ongoing CRT panic is a part of that.
A key conclusion I come to is that Christian nationalism requires certain historical move to be made in order to flourish. Near the end of the series, I want to differentiate between denominations of Christian nationalism and how they abuse history in different ways.
To listen to the trailer and subscribe to the series, click below.
https://tellingjeffersonlies.buzzsprout.com/ (apparently Substack won’t let Buzzsprout embed a player here).
The very short trailer is embedded here via Spotify, but you can listen anywhere you get podcasts.
Watch this space for more trailers and the first episode.
You can also subscribe and follow which will keep you up to date when new segments drop.
Great read on GJR 2nd Edition. Looking forward to the podcast.