Eusebius’ Church History 1

Study Guide Questions for 1.1-1.4

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Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

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Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. Eusebius gave eight purposes he intended to achieve in writing his church history. Name three of them.

2. Where did Eusebius say that anyone writing a history of the church must start?

3. Eusebius said Christ’s character was “two fold”. What analogies did he use to represent this?

4. What did Eusebius hope to demonstrate to those who claimed that the Christian faith was “recent and foreign, appearing only yesterday”?

5. What would “reason never permit” according to Eusebius?

6. What are three occasions whereupon Eusebius argued the divine Son of God manifested himself in human form prior to his incarnation?

7. Why, according to the text, was Christ not “proclaimed long ago to all people and all nations, as now”?

8. What happened, according to Eusebius, once the law of the Hebrews “became famous and penetrated everywhere”?

9. Give an example of how Eusebius says the names “Jesus” and “Christ” are used in the Old Testament Scriptures?

10. Eusebius gives three reasons why Jesus Christ is greater than the former men who bore the name or title of Jesus and Christ in the Old Testament. What are those reasons?

11. According to Eusebius “the recent proclamation of Christ’s teaching” was clearly what?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why did Eusebius say “this project requires kindness on the part of the reader”? What did he mean by that?

2. What did Eusebius mean by saying that our receiving the name “Christian” is a “dispensation more divine than most realize”?

3. Why was it important to Eusebius to demonstrate the “antiquity and divine character of Christianity”?

4. What did Eusebius mean by saying that Old Testament saints like Moses and Abraham recognized Christ “through the eyes of the mind”?

5. Why could the “theophanies” not be anyone else but Jesus Christ?

6. Why was it that “in the past humanity was not capable of grasping the teaching of Christ in all its wisdom and virtue” whereas now we can?

7. Why would God have purposed to use the names of Jesus and Christ for other people throughout biblical history before Jesus of Nazareth?

8. Why is it fitting that Jesus is said to be in the line of Melchizadek?

9. How did Eusebius prove that Christianity “is not new or strange but, in all honesty, ancient, unique, and true”?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. Eusebius said, “All of these credited for righteousness, going back from Abraham to the first man, could be described as Christians in fact if not in name, without exceeding the truth.” Do you agree with Eusebius that it would be appropriate to refer to Old Testament believers as Christians? Why or why not? Explain your answer carefully.

2. Eusebius seems intent on proving that Christianity is ancient and not new and that it is consistent with what has alway been believed from the beginning (all the way back to Abraham and beyond). How important is it for the Christian religion to be unchanging? Why should it not change with the times? Explain your answer thoroughly and carefully.

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Genesis 18. In what ways does it become clear that one of the “men” who appeared to Abraham is not only more than a mere man but also more than a mere angel?

2. Read Romans 4. How does this passage compliment Eusebius’ claim that Christianity is consistent with the ancient faith of Abraham?