Eusebius: The Church History

Along with the historian Josephus , Eusebius is one of the few historians who bothered to document the history between the time of Christ and 400 AD. However, a lot went on during this period that literally shaped Western society and led to Jesus becoming the most iconic, famous, deified and also vilified figure in history. This book was required for a Church History class, and I couldn't wait to get into it.Unfortunately, after reading just a few pages, I realized Eusebius was hardly an objective historian (but really, has anyone ever been truly non-biased?). He relies on "church tradition", the writings of Josephus and a few other lesser known theologians, historians and scholars to document what it was like to be an early Christian. Or, as someone employed by the church, could he have been presenting history the way he, or "they" wanted it to be remembered? Who knows. But, it is what it is, so this is definitely worth reading and savoring.My favorite parts of the book, so far, are the editorial notes from Paul Maier. Throughout the book, Paul provides some fact checking and error correction that helps make the biases of Eusebius a little more palatable. Even as a believer, I found myself thinking "this reads more like an apologist account to sway people into the religion, than objective or factual". Fortunately, Maier does bring some balance to the writings, and he reminds the reader that Eusebius, no matter what his presuppositions, did a brilliant job of recording the martyrs, early church practice and doctrines, and the cultures that led to Christ becoming so famous, that one wonders if it would be a greater miracle if he weren't who he said he was, and became world renowned for generations, than if he simply was who he was said to be.Overall, I recommend anyone serious about Christianity, scholarship, western culture, or theology, read this book. I would recommend that no one reads the book without a proper translation and editorial such as the one provided by Maier.

Dr Maier, the R. H. Seibert Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University, has completed this new and helpful translation of Eusebius. The translation is highly readable and in modern language.Eusebius is a very helpful book for study of the early church, because many of the writings before he completed this in AD 324 are lost because of the early Christian persecutions. So, Eusebius' quotations of these works are the only extant copies of their works. Papias is one such person, who is believed to have been a contemporary of John the Apostle.Eusebius is called the father of church history because he was the first historian to attempt to chronicle the Christian church from the beginning with Christ until his time, the early 4th century. His writing is the preeminent history of the church from Jesus' time on earth until AD 324, just before the Council of Nicea, but after Constantine had ended Christian persecution from Rome by passing the decree making Christianity a legal and later a preferred religion in the Roman Empire.Eusebius' writing is not without slant, but considering he was the first to write on this subject, he is still widely regarded as a superb resource of church history. Again, Papias gives an example of this slant, as Eusebius calls his intelligence into question because of his millennial views. But, in studying the early church, Eusebius is the key resource.This copy of Eusebius is very well bound in the hardback edition. The binding is stout and the pages are thick and durable. Maier's commentary is easily discernible from Eusebius' writings by either being placed in footnotes or on pages with a beige tint. Maier includes many images and notes that help explain aspects of Eusebius' history.Anyone from lay-people to theologians interested in church history study would be well served by this reliable, modern and sturdy copy of the most referenced church historian in Christian history.

I have always been a great fan of history and have read the works of Gibbon, Durant, and Paul Johnson and noted that they all referenced Eusebius for the first few centuries of Christian history. I decided that I wanted to read this to see everything that he had to say instead of just reading the quotes others used. I also have a great interest in early Christian doctrines and the major heresies and thought this would be a good place to start.First of all, I thought the translation was excellent. The prose was very understandable and clear. Note that this is the only translation that I have read, so I have no comparison. I also liked the commentaries that the author put in after every chapter to put things into context and to update historical errors that Eusebius made.I found the extra biblical stories of the apostles fascinating. I also learned a lot about the early church fathers and the early heretics. Eusebius extensively covered the persecutions that the early Christians endured.As far as doctrines, he didn't go into much detail, except when explaining the heresies; and that was explaining what they didn't believe. The most enlightening section on his beliefs was in the end when he gave a Panegyric on the building of some churches. Here I was able to get a good feel for his beliefs in God. Maier did note that he trimmed this section a bit due to its "excessively eulogistic verbiage". I would be interested in seeing all of that section for doctrinal reasons. I'll have to look elsewhere. As far as I could tell, that is the only section he trimmed.I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in early Christian history. It is clearly a must for anyone interested in the subject.