Eusebius of Caesarea: Scholar and apologist. A study of his religious terminology and its application to the Emperor Constantine

The faith and religious policies of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, have been the source of much scholarly contention, from his time to our own. Central to this larger question is the interpretation of the earliest and most important source for the life of Constantine: Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea. Was Eusebius an apologist who might distort the truth to support his own ends? Or was he primarily a scholar who passed down a substantially reliable portrait of Constantine? Such, in its barest outline, has been the substance of the controversy which sets the agenda for this study.;Many have discussed Eusebius' accuracy and reliability but, despite his central importance, his work has yet to be subjected to a thorough exegetical study, focusing on his linguistic usage. Such an approach promises to offer new answers to difficult questions. It has been a standard assumption among modern scholars that Eusebius portrays Constantine as an enthusiastic and intolerant Christian. This dissertation seeks to test that assumption by analyzing the terminology Eusebius uses to describe the faith and acts of Constantine.;Utilizing the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database of Greek texts, this study focuses, in particular, on two groups of religious terms: (1) Divine titles. (2) Terms used for Christianity or Christians.;As for methodology, this study treats Eusebius' linguistic usage both statistically and contextually. Further, a basis for comparison is established by examining the roots of Eusebius' usage in sources that he is known to have read. The primary goal of this study is to elucidate the conception of Christianity that underlies Eusebius' usage of religious terminology.;The results of this study reveal that Eusebius shared a common religious vocabulary with his contemporaries, Christian and Pagan. His use of this common religious vocabulary betrays an underlying conception of Christianity that was broader and more inclusive than most interpreters have assumed--a view he shared with many, earlier Greek Christian apologists and which was born out of Eusebius' own role as an apologist who sought to communicate the essence of his faith to pagan intellectuals. As a result, the distinction between Eusebius the scholar and the apologist is misleading. Eusebius actively combined both the scholar and the apologist in his attempt to rethink the role of God and the place of Christianity in human history. Much of the modern controversy over Constantine stems from a failure to recognize that Eusebius' broad conception of Christianity is at the heart of his application of religious terminology to the Emperor. That Eusebius considered Constantine a Christian, there can be no doubt; but what he meant by that, deserves fresh consideration.