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Author Topic:   Eusebius the Liar? - Pious Fraud Endorsed to Advance Christianity
Jazzns
Member (Idle past 3901 days)
Posts: 2657
From: A Better America
Joined: 07-23-2004


(2)
Message 1 of 2 (547356)
02-18-2010 4:07 PM


First of all, who is Eusebius?
wikipedia writes:
Eusebius of Caesarea, c. 263-339,[1] called Eusebius Pamphili, became the Bishop of Caesarea[2], in Palestine, about the year 314.[1] He flourished during the time of Constantine the Great and Constantius. His surname Pamphilus came from his relationship with Pamphilus the martyr. Eusebius, historian, exegete and polemicist is one of the more renowned Church Fathers.
He (with Pamphilus) was a most diligent investigator of the Canon. Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, and On Discrepancies between the Gospels were among his scholarly works. As "Father of Church History" he produced Ecclesiastical History, On the Life of Pamphilus, Chronicle of Universal History and On the Martyrs.[1][2]
Eusebius is actually one of the only reasons we have ANY church history from the founding of the orthodoxy. There are some issues though. Many critical scholars have no qualms calling out Eusebius as a blatant liar. By some he is called the father of "Pious Fraud" although it is demonstrable that he wasn't the first to actually practice it. There are varying lines of evidence for this, many disputed by conservative scholars, but I would like to discuss one popular one in particular to kick off this discussion.
Starting with this quote from Eusebius from Ecclesiastical History Chapter 12. (Adding EvC style quotes, and styling)
Early Church Fathers - Additional Works in English Translation unavailable elsewhere online
Eusebius writes:
XXXI. That it will be necessary sometimes to use falsehood as a remedy for the benefit of those who require such a mode of treatment
PLATO writes:
100 'But even if the case were not such as our argument has now proved it to be, if a lawgiver, who is to be of ever so little use, could have ventured to tell any falsehood at all to the young for their good, is there any falsehood that he could have told more beneficial than this, and better able to make them all do everything that is just, not by compulsion but willingly?
'Truth, O Stranger, is a noble and an enduring thing; it seems, however, not easy to persuade men of it.'
Now you may find in the Hebrew Scriptures also thousands of such passages concerning God as though He were jealous, or sleeping, or angry, or subject to any other human passions, which passages are adopted for the benefit of those who need this mode of instruction.
The main theme of what Eusebius is trying to do here is convince pagans that Plato's ideas are actually derived from ancient Hebrew religion. Legacy of a belief was very important to the Greek and Roman population and Eusebius is trying to appeal to that sentiment.
Plato is talking about how it is useful to use lies to convince some people of things who would be unable to be pursuaded otherwise. For good reasons of course but lies none the less.
Eusebius is therfore not only endorsing this idea, he is making the claim to pagans that the Hebrews thought of it first!
Moreover, he is pointing out examples from the OT where scripture is using this method to communicate, "for the benefit of those who need this mode of instruction."
So even more brief he is saying:
1. Plato said that lying is okay sometimes.
2. This is a great idea and we thought of it first!
3. Here are some examples of us lying in our scriptures for this reason.
Some defend Eusebius by pointing out that rather than "falsehood" the greek word used here COULD be translated as "fiction". So therefore Eusebius is endorsing the use of parables. Not only is this a stretch, I can't quite see how this helps the issue much. Eusebius would still at best be relegating the God of the OT to the same status as a fairy tale.
Why this is important is that Eusebus is often used as a source to resolve a variety of controversies. He is considered authoratative on a number of issues not the least of which is the authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum (TF) which is one of the only references to a historical Jesus that exists outside the Gospels. The TF has many hallmarks of a forgery and the earliest reference we have to it is from Eusebus. In fact, Eusebus was probably responsible for maintaining copies of ancient manuscripts such as the works of Josephus so he has motive, access, capability, and authority to do something like make a pious Jew refer to Jesus as the Messiah (one of the more obvious reasons the TV is likely a fraud).
I have read some defense of Eusebius that can be found online but I thought I would see if anyone here wanted to perhaps defend him in a different way. As I get closer and closer to considering myself a former Christian, the more I examine about the history of the church, scripture, and Judiasm the more I cannot ignore these kinds of blatant stains upon the legacy of the religion.
Put this in whatever religion forum you feel is appropriate please.
Thanks!

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

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Message 2 of 2 (547359)
02-18-2010 6:08 PM


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