Please read Book III of his History of the Church. What do you see in this book that would be particularly worth adding to an essay on the strengths/weaknesses of Eusebius as a historian? Was there anything you found particularly interesting in this book?
Strengths to add:
ReplyDeleteThe Roman Siege of Jerusalem because it tells of the horrors that the Jews dealt with after the crucifixion of Christ. (page 95)
Josephus and his writings because as is stated, "it provided so much material for this history". (page 103)
The succession of Bishops because it would be important to know how many there were. (Pages 105 and 123)
Canonical and Noncanonical writings because it shows that there can be both out there and it is up to the writer to pick the correct one. (Page 115)
The Apostles who married would be a valuable resource so that we could potentially see their lineage from their children. (page 118)
Weaknesses to add:
The writings of Clement and Papias because we are not sure of they were true followers of Christ nor do we know if they were true primary sources in this book. (Page 126)
Evangelist Missionaries. This one is self explanatory. (Page 125)
The Martyrdom of Symeon, the Bishop of Jerusalem. This seems a little bit to pointed at just one persons martyrdom when there was a lot more then just him at the time.
Strengths-
ReplyDeleteI like in Chapter 4 on Page. 124 He talks about the Zealots that were able to Lead the Churches. After the Apostles had left. Aka they kinda started with a Succession Plan. Also i like how he notes that When Luke was talking about the book of Luke. He refers to it as his Gospel. Which i would say is not prideful. But rather it is helping others keep the others apart from his.
Then in Chapter 5 he talks about how the Jews got there fate after revolting against the Romans. Then the Next couple of Chapters are on Jospehues documenting this.
Weaknesses. I would say that it seems like Eusebius is pretty biased against the Jews. I feel like he thinks they got there just reward in Chapter 5-8. For there transgressions against Christ, Christ's followers and the Romans. But that said the book is about how great and awesome the early church is. But i fell like he went a little overboard.- Austin Dreyer
Strengths- A Narrative about John (page111). He talks about the apostle John who is exiled and then returned from his exile to Ephesus and help lead the church by going to gentile districts to appoint bishops, reconcile churches, or ordain someone designated by the spirit. He also explains how John entrusts a young man to help the bishop, but the young man is soon led away and rejects Gods salvation to commit many horrendous crimes.
ReplyDeleteWeakness- The writings of Clemet don't add up. The book doesn't mention the second epistle ascribed to Clemet, and its not as well known like the first epistle. There's also no evidence that the early fathers used it. There's also been treaties claimed as Clemet's with no evidence to back it up.
- Eathen Erck
I thought that is Eusebius’s book three strengthened his arguments from books one and two. He talked about the apostles and their contributions. He used many references from the Bible and even added in stories that I don't recall were in the Bible, however, each story played a significant role in connecting back to what Jesus said early on within the New Testament. One story was about a lady named Mary, who was rich and fled to Jerusalem, where they took all of her belongings and her food. She had a baby that she ended up having to eat. The Romans took all the food that she had, when they found that she had been eating they tried to take that as well but the lady only ate half of her baby and half was supposed to be given to the Romans, they were disgusted by what the lady had done. I think that played a huge role in just showing the suffering that these people had to go through when they were getting when they were being persecuted it also plays role in this divine justice that eventually comes.
ReplyDeleteFor strengths, I would mention the extensive details on the Jewish War (pg. 97-100). However, that could also be considered a weakness because he used primarily another person's writings (Josephus). As mentioned at the end of this book, Eusebius does use a lot of other people's writings a lot more than he includes his own, but considering he is talking about events that happened earlier, it is probably better to use sources from the time of the event. I found this book to be rather difficult to read because of the many different citations of different books. It is hard to keep track of everyone Eusebius mentions.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Bland
Strengths/interests: Canonical and non-canonical writings, succession of the apostles and of bishops, Josephus’s writings
ReplyDeleteWeaknesses/dislikes: confusing writings of clement, bias against others (particularly Jews), difficult citations, goes in depth on small seemingly trivial things
Addition:
ReplyDeleteI wish there was more said about the Jewish siege of Jerusalem. He might not have time for it, but it woulda been a good addition.
Strengths:
He has really interesting writing that's clear-cut and factual.
He absolutely makes it clear what real doctrine is in the church in his Canonical and Noncanonical Writings section.
He calls out false preachers, with Menander the Charlatan section.
If you were confused about the timeline in the Bible, read Eusebius. All of your questions will be answered.
Weaknesses:
He tends to add his personal opinions to the argument. Particularly to the Jews rejecting Christ.
As to be expected, anytime someone does something good to the Christians, Eusebius always gives them a glowing review, such is the case of Trajan.
Interesting: I found how he laid things out pretty chronologically. It really annoys me in books and movies when things aren't chronological.
Addition:
ReplyDeleteI wish there was more said about the Jewish siege of Jerusalem. He might not have time for it, but it woulda been a good addition.
Strengths:
He has really interesting writing that's clear-cut and factual.
He absolutely makes it clear what real doctrine is in the church in his Canonical and Noncanonical Writings section.
He calls out false preachers, with Menander the Charlatan section.
If you were confused about the timeline in the Bible, read Eusebius. All of your questions will be answered.
Weaknesses:
He tends to add his personal opinions to the argument. Particularly to the Jews rejecting Christ.
As to be expected, anytime someone does something good to the Christians, Eusebius always gives them a glowing review, such is the case of Trajan.
Interesting: I found how he laid things out pretty chronologically. It really annoys me in books and movies when things aren't chronological.
Walker Larson
For a strengths, I thought Eusebius description on the Roman siege of Jerusalem was good. He quotes a lot from Josephus and his book on “Jewish War,” in fact that is where most of this section comes from. Although this section does have a weakness in just the way he regards the Jews. “I shall relate only their sufferings from starvation, so that readers may learn how quickly God’s punishment followed their crimes against Christ” (Eusebius 97). There are a couple of parts like this one in his description of the siege of Jerusalem, that I think Eusebius could have just left out. They just show his views on the Jews and his view doesn’t seem all that Christian.
ReplyDelete