8. Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms and Its Place in the Origins of Christian Biblical Scholarship Michael J. Hollerich Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms (hereafter CPs) is probably the longest book he ever wrote. It came late in his career, at a time when the Church was basking in the emperor’s […]
7. The Life of Constantine: The Image of an Image Peter Van Nuffelen In her 1991 classic, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, Averil Cameron commented that Eusebius’ Life of Constantine (also referred to as the VC) is “a work over-criticized on historical grounds and understudied as a literary text.” [1] […]
6. Propaganda Against Propaganda: Revisiting Eusebius’ Use of the Figure of Moses in the Life of Constantine Finn Damgaard Introduction In the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in the literary aspects of the Life of Constantine (VC) and a number of recent studies have touched on […]
5. A Eusebian Reading of the Testimonium Flavianum Ken Olson In his laudatory Life of Constantine, written shortly after the emperor’s death in 337, Eusebius of Caesarea gives an account of a battle Constantine fought against his colleague and rival, Licinius, the emperor of the eastern part of the empire. Eusebius […]
4. The History of the Caesarean Present: Eusebius and Narratives of Origen Elizabeth C. Penland When Eusebius presents the life of Origen in Book 6 of the Ecclesiastical History, he interrupts the narrative framework to present an extended biographical sub-narrative focused on Origen with interspersed details from other sources and from […]
3. Mothers and Martyrdom: Familial Piety and the Model of the Maccabees in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History [1] James Corke-Webster Stories concerning family relationships in life-or-death situations possess both a peculiar magnetism and a surprising longevity. This is nowhere more true than the martyrdom of the Maccabean mother and her […]
2. Genre and Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History: Toward a Focused Debate [1] David J. DeVore Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History is universally acknowledged as a watershed in historiographical presentation, the most innovative history since the fifth century BC: it quotes previous texts promiscuously, avoids placing orations into characters’ mouths, incorporates literary history, and lacks […]
1. Introduction Aaron P. Johnson Current study of the cultures and literatures of late antiquity continues to find attractive the interpretive polarity of tradition and innovation. [1] The spectrum containing these two poles has fruitfully functioned to gauge the complex ways in which the history, literature, and thought of late antiquity […]
Abbreviations C. Hier. Eusebius, Contra Hieroclem (Against Hierocles) C. Marc. Eusebius, Contra Marcellum (Against Marcellus)CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina Chron. Eusebius, Chronicon (Chronicle)Chron. Can. Eusebius, Chronici Canones (Chronological Canons)CI Eusebius, Commentarius in Isaiam (Commentary on Isaiah)CPG Clavis Patrum Graecorum CPs Eusebius, Commentaria in Psalmos (Commentary on the Psalms) DE Eusebius, Demonstratio […]
Acknowledgments The editors wish to thank the members of the press, especially Scott F. Johnson and Jill Curry Robbins for enthusiasm, perceptiveness, and diligence. We are also most grateful to the contributors of this volume for providing intellectual energy, attentive insights, and new ideas both in the original presentation of the papers […]