I am trying to educate myself more about christiantiy and what they believe but I am not quite sure where to start..
what is the holy book they refer to ... i know it is the bible, but which one? why are there different books by matthew or paul etc?
Where should I start?
As a Christian who is visiting this forum to learn more about Islam, perhaps I can help. I'd start with a front to back read of the New Testament -- if using an English translation, I recommend the NIV (New International Version) as it was compiled over several years from the earliest extant text documents by a team of international biblical text and language scholars. A solid NIV study bible gives a summary and analysis of each New Testament book and its author.
Some Christians consider the present New Testament text infallible. I don't, since we have none of the original autographs of any of the books, only copies -- and text criticism hints at editing in those. There are four gospels -- three "synoptics", Matthew, Mark, Luke, which largely overlap but are addressed to different audiences, Matthew to a Jewish audience, Luke to Gentiles, and the shortest, Mark, perhaps one of the sources for the other two. The fourth gospel, John, was the last one written, and has a more Greek/Hellenistic tone and emphasis. The Acts of the Apostles was once a part of Luke, and is believed to have the same author. The Apostle Paul's epistles were the earliest written Christian texts. There are epistles of others, such as John, Peter and James, and finally the controversial Book of Revelation (end-times) attributed to the same Apostle John who wrote the Gospel of John and Johannine Epistles.
There is a fairly large volume of Christian Apocrypha, books which were rejected for the New Testament canon (which was established at the Council of Nicea in the 4th century), many for good reason. However, some of the Apocryphal books were widespread and widely accepted in the early Church, and reading these can give you a better idea of early Church beliefs; I and II Clement, The Shepherd of Hermas, The Didache, The Gospel of Thomas, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Odes of Solomon, The Wisdom of Solomon.
IMO, reading the works of the very early Church fathers is essential for understanding how the early Christians interpreted the New Testament teachings and practiced their beliefs. In the West (Rome), Clement of Rome, Ignatias, Polycarp. In the East (Alexandria), Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Athenagoras. You'll find different expressions of Christian beliefs, perhaps because they were speaking to different audiences, and in some ways they actually held slightly different understandings, but all resulted in similar practices, rules of living, lifestyles, so these very early Christians were essentially unified in spirit and practice.
The first real schism was with Judaism (in areas where Judaism was practiced), the next with the gnostic sects, who taught a matter/spirit dualism which de-emphasized the need for "doing good works" in this life, since only the spirit and knowledge, not matter and this earthly life, were important -- or, as the more orthodox church fathers complained, they were lazy... We still have a lot of those, although many don't self-designate themselves as such.
Iraneus was the first of the church fathers to suggest the need for a more unified theology, and his writings about "heresies" ignited a new movement toward that goal. St. Augustine's writings are considered the essential primer on what became the official orthodox theology of the early Christian Church, in the 4th century, AD.
As you probably know, since that time, the Christian Church has split into factions upon factions, beginning with the Roman Catholic split from the Orthodox Church (usually referred to, in Western countries, as the Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church), then the Protestant movement's split from the Roman Catholic Church, beginning with Martin Luther (from what I've read, the Catholic Church was badly corrupted at that time), and since then it all cascaded to the point that today there are so many conflicting and contradictory Christian theologies, there is no such thing as "A" Christian theology, there are dozens -- hundreds, if you count all the smaller sects and factions. That's why many of us Christians go back and study these very early writings, to better understand how the contemporaries of Jesus (the Apostles) and their students/disciples understood and practiced Christianity.
Hope this helps. Sorry to be so wordy, but this is the only subject on this forum I know a little something about -- most of the time I'll be a lurking reader and asking questions. rebecca
