The Ecclesiastical History (4 vols.)

by Eusebius of Caesarea

Publishers:

William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam’s Sons; Harvard University Press

Overview

Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, gave the church one of its greatest gifts by chronicling the rise of Christianity until the fourth century in The Ecclesiastical History. One of the earliest and most important histories of the church, this classic work is a must read. Eusebius began writing in 311 and finished in 323, just two years before the Council of Nicaea. Comprehensive in its detail and scope and faithful to history, this work forms a solid foundation for the study of church history, historical theology, patristics, and the early church, all of which are integral to a grounded understanding of the New Testament church and the trajectory of its development. The Loeb edition of The Ecclesiastical History includes the original Greek text with English translation by Kirsopp Lake and J. E. L. Oulton as well as notes and an extensive introduction to the text.

Eusebius arranges his history by the reign of the Roman emperors as he presents the church’s intellectual, spiritual, and institutional development. For his sources, he calls upon Josephus, Philo, Clement of Alexandra, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and others, serving as an archivist of manuscript contents otherwise lost to time. Theological topics and historical accounts include a defense of Christ as the eternal Logos, Mosiac legislation, the Jewish rebellion, Christian martyrs, the rise of Gnosticism, the lives of various bishops, and an examination of the works of early Christian writers and apologists.

The digital version of this two-volume Loeb edition is provided in four resources for ease of use. The Greek text is morphologically tagged and easily searchable. Scripture passages are tagged to appear on mouseover in your preferred translation, and all cross-references link to the other resources in your digital library, making this collection easier to access than ever before. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform comprehensive searches by topic or Scripture reference, finding, for example, every mention of “Arius” or “Justin Martyr.”

Key Features

• The first comprehensive history of the early Christian Church
• Morph-tagged Greek text with English translations
• Over 1,000 pages of early church history and historical theology

• Title: The Ecclesiastical History
• Author: Eusebius
• Editors: T. E. Page, Edward Capps, William Henry Denham Rouse, L. A. Post, and E. H. Warmington
• Translators: Kirsopp Lake and J. E. L. Oulton
• Series: Loeb Classical Library
• Publisher: William Heinemann
• Volumes: 4
• Pages: 1,016

About Eusebius of Caeserea

Eusebius (263–339) was born in Caesarea Maritime, Palestine. A historian, Christian theologian, apologist, and bishop, he was an essential voice in the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Eusebius, considered the “Father of Church History,” created one of the earliest and most comprehensive chronicles of Christianity. Eusebius also proposed the four-category delimitation (recognized, disputed, spurious, and heretical) for considering a document’s relationship to the Christian canon. Some scholars believe Eusebius may have contributed to the wording of the Nicene Creed, which was based on a creed used in the church he headed as bishop. In addition to The Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius wrote Onomasticon, which detailed place names in Scripture, and the ambitious Chronicon, which attempts a chronicle of world history from Abraham to Constantine, the Christian Roman emperor who was the subject of Eusebius’s glowing Life of Constantine.