Merry Christmas,
I am looking for good books about the first century AD. Some topics of interest.
Is there anyplace (website or book) where I can go to read the versions of early churh history and the gospels that were rejected by the council of Nicaea(sp?) and Constantine?
Is there any research on the background of the apostle Paul?
Is there any history of the Jerusalem church that focuses on the ministry of James after the crucifixion and resurrection?
I appreciate any leads that the community here can give me.
The library on the campus of Southern Seminary has about 1 million works, all detailing the issues you seek in one form or another.
I suspect that you are trying to figure out if or where the "church" strayed from what it was that God wanted, and are looking to do some research to confirm whether or not this actually happened. That would be in line with a current line of reasoning picked up and pushed forward on unsuspecting people by places like the History Channel and Dan Brown's novels. What I can say with some assurance after reading somewhere over 3000 books on these and other subjects related is that both the HC and Dan Brown are WRONG.
If you are on another quest, forgive me, and we can talk further.
As to good works to read, I highly recommend Tom Schreiner's book on Paul:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0830828257/?tag=baptis04-20
He will clear up a lot of issues that you raise.
As for the non-canonical books, there are multiple web sites that host copies of those free for the reading. Beware that the non-canonical books are that way for a reason. It was not as some have said, that the church rejected alliterative versions of Christianity, but rather that the alternative versions of Christianity were not Christian at all.
Another good read about the influence of Greek writings in the early church is Ron Nash,
The Gospel and the Greeks.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875525598/?tag=baptis04-20
I knew Dr. Nash and he has some really good views that are well researched.
What of James and the Jerusalem Church of the 1st century? They drifted to a heretical stance and literally blew up, like many liberal churches still do today. The influence of the Judiazers and Pharisees won out until there was no church left. Earlier, God broke up the church in Jerusalem and sent the people packing all over the region, and while they were still orthodox, they carried the gospel all over Asia Minor. You can read about that in Acts and from some of the comments in Paul's epistles.
If you wish to read the actual writings of the earliest Fathers of the Church, you can find there on-line also. Here is a link to the Anti-Nicene Church Fathers series. Don't be thrown off by the title, it, like a lot of theological issues does not mean what it sounds like it means. It is just the Fathers of the church before Nicea.
http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html
I highly commend the study of the Church Fathers to all who are interested. From them, one will find almost every verse of the NT cited -- long before the entire NT was codified into a single canon we call The Bible. Also, one finds a great description of how those discipled by the original 11 and Paul saw the church, God, Jesus, and the continued actions of Christianity.
