Eusebius (263–339)

Why I ever purchased this in 2012, I have no idea! Upon finally opening it up on my Kindle, I can tell you that most of the 980 pages were a slog. I did NOT read all 980 pages. I read about 400 pages written by Constantine the Great that deal with self-praise for his successes and his explanation on why he accepted Christianity, why he made it the national religion, and how men and women in the empire would reap the benefits of his conversion. This also included Eusebius' Oration of Praise show more in Honor of Constantine. In the scholarly historical sense, it wasn't "bad." In the enjoyment sense, pffft! There were as many notes as script and often they were more interesting. Off it goes into Kindle space! (The "original" is 32,400 pages, 38 volumes) show less

This was a very readable translation with helpful commentary. As I am only somewhat interested in early church history, it did end up being more information than I could absorb. My main takeaways were a more vivid picture of the persecution of the Christians and the subsequent appreciation for the work of Constantine.

Absolutely essential reading for those interested in the development of early Christianity up to the 4th century, since it's the first full historical narrative written from the Christian point of view. The glossary in this new edition titled "Who's Who in Eusebius" is practical and helpful for keeping track of the numerous historical figures mentioned in these pages—I wish I'd had recourse to it the first time I read through this book as a student.

I read the Church History by Eusebius in this volume (of the Church Fathers set), which covers about 3/5 of the book. I'll read The Life of Constantine (also by Eusebius in this volume) later.

The notes in this volume are prodigious. It would have taken me much longer to finish had I read all the notes. What notes I did read were very informative, I thought.

The translation and notes are old, however. They come from about 1890. I was surprised at how modern-sounding they were however - siding show more with the gnostics, for instance, or discrediting some of the more naive claims of Eusebius for Constantine. Very well done.

This is a good book to read if you want to know about the history of the persecutions of the church in the first three centuries after Christ. It's very graphic and in some places sounds like a modern journalistic expose of the many events. Heresy is the other subject that gets some attention in the book. show less