Description

Presents a historical record of the Church during its crucial first 300 years. 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, this title shows the purity and continuity of the doctrinal tradition of Christianity.

“This book is not for the faint of heart, as it takes much time and patience to make it though it’s pages – which are sometimes dry and tedious. But the reader will be richly rewarded for doing so. I have already given this book to 3 other people. I won’t part with mine, as it is loaded with notes and dog-eared pages.

This book is fascinating. If you love to read the Bible, and you want to know how things were really like for the first Christians, then read this book. Too many people think they know what the earliest Christians believed and practiced, but are totally unaware of the facts. Eusebius was a first-class historian who collected first-hand accounts (letters, other histories, and records) to document the first three hundred-plus years of the church.

He begins with the death and resurrection of Jesus – an historical event. We learn why there was a discrepancy in Jesus’ geneology in the gospels, who His brothers were, the fate of all the other apostles, why the gospels were written and even why they are in the order that they are in. We learn that different books of the Bible were accepted some years and rejected in others, and how the Church finally needed to decide on the official canon. We learn that there was an abundance of fraudulent writings floating around and how the Church vouched for the authentic ones.

I could go on and on, but it’s important to know that this book documents – as a legitimate history should – the times and reigns of the emporers when various events took place. Eusebius traces back to the beginning all of the bishops in Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome and Alexandria – showing an unbroken line of apostolic succession. Eusebius recounts why Peter went to Rome (this is in itself is fascinating) and how it was that the bishops of Rome were later recognised as having authority over the others. Eusebius records how the celebration of Easter was practiced from the very beginning, but how the Eastern Church practiced it on a different day than the Western Church. We are able to learn how the problem of Easter and the unity of the Church was resolved. We can also read of the dozens of heresies that threatened to divide the Church, and how the Church fought to preserve the apostles’ teachings.

Eusebius also records in gory detail the destruction of Jerusalem and the persecution of Christians until the reign of Constantine. This is not easy reading here: the cruelty inflicted and the suffering of multitudes are difficult to read at times.

My last comment is, don’t be satisfied with taking your religious beliefs solely from the Bible. The Bible that we hold in our hands today, although truly inspired, was not held by any Christian for hundreds of years. You owe it to yourself to discover how the first Christians practiced and believed without having a privately owned Bible to turn to for answers.”

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