Wow. That sounds involved. So far, I haven't actually put anything on paper as far as writing my research goes, but I do have a few ideas where I'm headed once I get started.
I have a book that sort of inspired me to pursue this topic for my research and will be one of the most-relied-upon secondary sources for this project. Entitled Epidemic: Examining the Infected Roots of Judaism and Christianity, Dr. Russell Houck examines how both Judaism and Christianity came to be and how events orchestrated in the first centuries AD caused a separation of the two religions that continues to have impacts on adherents to these faiths in current times.
While this is certainly a valuable resource, I plan to pull information from history books dealing with the Roman Empire in the first centuries AD and how the various emperors chose to deal with this new sect of "Jesus-followers" from the time of Nero forward.
As a primary source, I will tap into some early church writings and see how these affected early Christianity as a whole and how the Catholic Church arose out of these teachings.
If space permits I may touch upon Martin Luther's writings, specifically his 95 Theses, and look at how Luther's expectations that the Jews would rally to support his ideas were badly disappointed and how this ultimately affected the anti-Semitism found in many of the Protestant denominations today.
As boring as all church history may sound to some folks, I really find it quite interesting. Since I have done a bit of research on my own over the past year or so on this topic, I hope to not have too much trouble when it comes to locating references for my bibliography.
So that's where I am so far. Till next time!
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