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BeforetheNewTestament.com
This website is dedicated to the study of Christianity before the appearance of the New Testament. This is done by exploring early Christian groups (such as the Ebionites and the Nazoreans) and by examining literature created or used by the pre-New Testament Church (such as the Sayings of Our Lord, the Didache, the Two Ways, and the Book of Enoch).
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Early Christian Groups
The first-generation Church drew many members from the Essene movement (the Way), and was soon called the Way itself. A radical Essene sect, the Nazoreans, became a significant force within the early Church. After the rise of Gentile Christianity, the earlier (Essene) Christians came to be called Hebrew Christians (thus the Epistle to the Hebrews). They were lated called Ebionites (from one of their Essene names, the Ebionim).
Pre-New Testament Christian Literature
The first Christians used a number of writings before the appearance of the New Testament. The Old Testament was used in two forms, the Masoretic Text (in Hebrew) and the Septuagint (in Greek), which don't always agree. Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are evenly divided between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Book of Enoch (the Enochic corpus) and the Book of Jubilees were Essene compositions that were used by the early Church. Both are quoted as Scripture in the New Testament. The Two Ways was a Jewish moral treatise, probably from the first century BC, that was frequently used by the Apostle Peter and was therefore well-known to first-century Cjhristians. It was quoted as Scripture by several early Christian writers. The Prophecy of the Lord's Return and Q (the first gospel) were both written about 41 AD (using 26 AD as the date of the Crucifixion). Material from both was incorporated into the New Testament. The Didache was created about 60 AD. The later Church did not consider it Scripture, but sometimes listed it as a work supplementing the New Testament. These writings help to expand our understanding of the first-century Church.
