Saturday, March 15, 2008

Eusebius, Father of Church History


Eusebius (circa 263 – 339) was the Bishop of Caesarea, Constantine's court theologian, and author History of the Church, "a massive piece of research that preserves quotations from many older writers that would otherwise have been lost."

Some suspect him to have been an Arian; others see him as an admirer of Origen, but one who did not go to the extremes of the Alexandrians in interpretating scripture.
Rob Bradshaw quotes D.S. Wallace Hadrill: "Some writers note that just as Caesarea lay halfway between Antioch and Alexandria, so Eusebius’ hermeneutic lay midway between the traditions of those two cities." At Nicea, Eusebius' hoped to reach a compromise between Arius and Athanasius, by teaching
1)Christ was not created out of nothing (as Arius taught)
2)Christ was begotton of the Father before time and eternity, of similar (homoi) essence to the Father.

This was later refined by Constantine's insertion, "of the same substance" (homoousios) into the creed that was finally drawn up in Nicea, 325.

read his Church History here

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