Eusebius’ Church History 12

Study Guide Questions for Book 5.1-5.6

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

Love, Despotism, Courage, Hope, Appearance vs. Reality, Death and Resurrection

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. According to Eusebius, how did his purpose as a historian differ from other historians?

2. What kinds of places were Christians being “excluded from” during the persecution in Gaul?

3. What did Blandina’s torturers have to admit?

4. How did Sanctus respond to every question he was asked by his torturers?

5. What miraculous thing occurred when the torturers attempted to torture Sanctus a second time?

6. How were the Christians who had Roman Citizenship treated differently than those who did not have it?

7. According to the text, how did the persecutors of the Christains dispose of their remains after they were dead?

8. What title did the Christians who were tortured refuse to have applied to them?

9. What is reported to have occurred when the Christian soldiers in Marcus Aurelius’ army prayed during their battle against the Germans and Sarmatians?

10. Who had Irenaeus listened to in person when he was young?

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

1. What is meant by the statement, “For the adversary, in a foretaste of his own imminent advent, attacked us with all his might?”

2. Why were the torturers so intent on trying to make the Christian deny Christ? Why not simply kill them? 

3. What did Pothinus mean by responding to the question “Who is the god of the Christians?” by saying “If you are worthy, you will know”?

4. Why were the Christians who were Roman citizens treated differently than those who were not?

5. What might we infer about the way Christians typically cared for the body of their deceased brethren by the way in which their persecutors disposed of their bodies?

6. Why did many assume that Montanus, Alcibiades, and Theodotus were prophets?

7. Why does Eusebius keep tracing the line of bishops back to the apostles?

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

1. Why would God allow faithful Christians to endure such incredible suffering? How should the example of these martyrs affect our thinking about suffering and what it means to follow Christ?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Romans 8:26-39. How does this passage connect with our current reading and what should we learn from both?

2. Read Ezekiel 37:1-14. How should this passage, as well as others that address God’s resurrection power, affect our thinking about what the persecutors of the Christians did with their remains? 

3. Read James 5:13-18 and relate it to our present reading.