| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Penguin English Library
The Penguin English Library features the best novels in the English language. Get lost in the amazing stories, browse the Penguin English Library. |
Product details
|
Eusebius's account is the only surviving historical record of the Church during its crucial first 300 years.
Bishop Eusebius, a learned scholar who lived most of his life in Caesarea in Palestine, broke new ground in writing the History and provided a model for all later ecclesiastical historians. In tracing the history of the Church from the time of Christ to the Great Persecution at the beginning of the fourth century, and ending with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, his aim was to show the purity and continuity of the doctrinal tradition of Christianity and its struggle against persecutors and heretics.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Eusebius is an essential source for anyone studying classical Roman history, or early Christianiy, because he is one the few writers who is preserved to us, almost in his entirety. The actual history that he gives us is invaluable - some accounts of events attested no where else, as well alternative accounts of events that are well known from history.
It should be said, Eusebius is problematic - he is tendentious is his style of writing, and occasionally distorts what actually happened. If you read Eusebius, read it with a good commentary.
As far as this particular edition goes, its very good but not perfect. The style chosen in the text works well, with quotations used by Eusebius in smaller font (and there are a lot of these!), and his own text larger, which allows the reader to distinguish between his sources.
Additionally, A. Louth has included in his revisions a useful Who's Who for the reader, so if you are searching Eusebius for a particular passage on one personality, you should be able to find it relatively easily. Some brief appendices explain some awkward points of history too, e.g. the ancient calendar.
Unfortunately, there is no index which is quite disappointing. Eusebius contains information on so many places, events and people, that an index would have been very useful indeed. The Who's who eases this situation somewhat, but having to search through his accounts for specific mentions of events can be time consuming.
As with any Penguin classical text the translation is somewhat freer than would be ideal, but it is aimed at readability over accuracy, and where it does go beyond the text, it is never too extreme.
Overall, this is an excellent translation, and a thoughtful and useful edition that should be advantageous to anyone studying Eusebius without Greek or Latin.
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|