Alternative Christianities Volume II

About the Book

Welcome to Volume II of Alternative Christianities. For those that have read Alternative Christianities – Volume I: Early Christian Sects and the Formation of the Bible, Welcome Back and I hope you enjoy Alternative Christianities – Volume II: The Validity of Today’s Christian Teachings and the Lost Gospels of the Other Disciples. If you have not read Volume I, I do hope you pick it up or order it. It is well-worth reading. For those new readers to whom I have not introduced myself in Volume I: I am Vince Nicolas. I am a “historian” not a “theologian.” I am writing these books as a “historian” not as a “theologian.” I want to make that very clear.

About the Author

Vince Nicolas was born, raised, and educated in New York City. Being the son of Italian immigrants, he was privileged to spend many summers in Italy and Europe. He was fascinated by Rome and its ancient history. When he was in High School, Italian was not offered as one of the language electives, so he studied Latin for four years. In learning the language and culture, there were a heavy emphasize on translating Latin writings from ancient times. He spent many vacations in Italy and Rome among the antiquity of Roman culture, art, mythology, and architecture. Learning Latin paid off because he was able to adapt it to learn Italian very quickly. The history of Rome after the birth of Jesus Christ was intricately intertwined with the history of early Christianity. Christianity struggled to survive and grow in the Roman Empire. In the 4th Century, Emperor Constantine decided to make Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire with the personal motive of pulling his empire together. In forming the one large universal Christian or Catholic Church, the smaller diverse Christian groups were being snuffed out. Many shows about this period of time, especially about the “lost” or “banned” Gospels, can be seen on major networks especially the History, National Geographic, Discovery channels. Innumerable books have been written on this and related subjects by very best and prominent professors from major U.S. universities. In fact, a whole section of the library (220-232) and in bookstores is dedicated to “General Christianity.” Once Vince saw the first program and read the first book on this subject, he could not watch and read enough on the subject of these “Lost Gospels.” He read so many books, saw so many programs, he threw his hat into the ring, decided to put all these sources together, and prove the underlying common thread that because of Emperor Constantine almost unilaterally threw the emerging Christianity off its Founder’s intended course. Vince had done teaching, speaking, and writing in his previous career as an International Banker on Wall Street in New York City, so he took his laptop and began to write a book. With so much great information available, Volumes I and II are still only the “tip of the iceberg”! Please take this journey as it promises to be very interesting, informative, eye-opening, and educational, as well as being extremely controversial.