A Study In Eusebius Of Caesarea And His Ecclesiastical History

Eusebius of Caesarea (260—339) was the first church historian, and his Ecclesiastical History is the only completed one written before five century existents now. A lot of ancient documents and works, including some imperial edicts, were cited by Eusebius in this book and therefore survived. All these valuable materials are important reference for the study in the development of both primary Christianity and church in the early stage of Byzantine Empire. This dissertation focuses on the Ecclesiastical History, to discuss Eusebius'Concepts of religion and history by analyzing his life and experiences, the time he lived in, and the contents of his Ecclesiastical History.Guiding by the historical materialism and the dialectic, this dissertation will discuss Eusebius and his Ecclesiastical History in three parts.First part includes Chapter one and two, and mainly deal with the life and experiences of Eusibius. Few materials of Eusebius have left now, and people know nothing about his birthday, birth place, his parents and his education. And all these can only be rebound from his and others works. On the other hand, many important events happened during his lifetime, for instance, the Great Persecution, the Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicene. Eusebius went through all these by himself, but scholars think differently of his behavior in them. Chapter one of this dissertation discusses the life of Eusebius and his experiences during the Great Persecution, and introduces his works systemically. Chapter two is about Eusebius'position and viewpoint in the Arian Controversy, and about his relation with the Nicene Creed.The second part only one chapter. Chapter Three focuses on Eusebius'work Ecclesiastical History. Scholars consider this work as the most valuable and most important one of Eusebius, for it tells us the early church history in the first three centuries, from the birth of Jesus Christ till the time of Constantine the Great. Although Ecclesiastical History kept for us lots of valuable historical documents, scholars'comments on it quite different, some good and others bad, especially on his huge citation and writing style. Chapter three deals with the versions, manuscripts, contents and citation as well as its writing style, and give a full-scale comment on it.Part three has two chapters which discuss Eusebius'concepts of both his religion and history on the bases of the analysis of his Ecclesiastical History. Eusebius' concepts of religion and history have important affects on the later scholars, though he himself had no contribution to the Christian theology. The last two chapters deal with the Concepts of his religion and of his history.Some original ideas have been raised out:first, denying that Eusebius had betrayed his faith during the Great Persecution; explaining the reason why Eusebius signed the Nicene Creed. Secondly, considering merits as the main remarks of Ecclesiastical History. And thirdly, pointing out that his concept of religion was mainly consisted of "Persecution Theology" and "Political Theology".The conclusion:a) Eusebius was an exploiter of church history, and his Ecclesiastical History is much valuable for its historical materials, though it has some deficiencies.b) The concepts of Eusebius'religion and history influenced later church scholars greatly.c) Eusebius'concept of Christian history affected later Christian historians.