Eusebius of Caesarea: Demonstratio Evangelica. Tr. W.J. Ferrar (1920) -- Introduction
INTRODUCTION
§ I. OBJECT AND OCCASION
The Demonstratio Evangelica (Ευαγγελικης Αποδειξεως δεκα λογοι) originally consisted of twenty books, of which only ten remain. It was the concluding portion of the complete work, which included the Praeparatio . At the beginning of the latter Eusebius stated his object to be "to shew the nature of Christianity to those who know not what it means" the purpose of its pages was to give an answer to all reasonable questions both from Jewish or Greek inquirers about Christianity, and its relation to other religions. Thus the Praeparatio was intended to be "a guide, by occupying the place of elementary instruction and introduction, and suiting itself to our recent converts from among the heathen."
The Demonstratio , Eusebius promises in the same passage, will go further. It will adapt itself "to those who have passed beyond this, and are already in a state prepared for the reception of the higher truths." It will "convey the exact knowledge of the most stringent proofs of God's mysterious dispensation in regard to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." All apologetics, no doubt, have a double object, to convince the unbeliever and to strengthen the faithful. And it would certainly be an error to discriminate the stress on either of these objects too sharply in the case of any particular work. It is true from Justin to Butler that evidential works circulate as widely (or indeed more widely) in the Church as manuals of teaching than in the world as weapons of defence. But we can recognize a difference of |x emphasis in the tone and scope of apologetic works, dependent on the circumstances and environment of the age of their production, which inclines the balance perceptibly either in the direction of apology proper, or in that of dogmatic instruction. The Demonstratio then would seem to be of the latter class, rather than of the former. It is a manual of instruction for the faithful, rather than a challenge to the unbelieving.
This impression, however, must be balanced by the fact that certain sections of the argument seem to be deliberately planned to convince the unbeliever, notably where Eusebius restricts himself to unfolding the unique beauty of our Lord's Humanity in His Life and Work; and while reserving his "prophetic" arguments for the edification of the faithful, speaks of Him from the human and historic level, ως περι ανδρος κοινου, και τοις λοιποις παραπλησιου (102 b). Or when in the same book he constructs his powerful reductio ad absurdum of the suggestion that Christ was a wizard or a charlatan.
The studied statements at the opening of the whole work give then the impression that the central object of Eusebius, in relation to the circumstances of his time, differed materially from that of the earlier Apologists like Justin and Aristides. They provided a reasoned defence of Christianity for the consideration of the rulers of the heathen world, and endeavoured to meet the. subtle criticism of pagan philosophers with convincing force. He aims primarily at strengthening the convictions of those already convinced. He desires to provide a completer enlightenment for those who are already members of the Church of Christ.
Though certain passages both in the Praeparatio and the Demonstratio speak of pagan persecution in the present tense ( Praep. Ev. 584 a, b, Dem. 82 c), and if the tense is pressed must have been written before the close of the Diocletian and Galerian Terror by the Edict of Milan, A.D. 312 (Eus., H.E. x. 5), other passages present the picture, frequent in the earlier apologies, of a Church at peace and developing in all parts of the Empire ( Praep. Ev. 9 d, Dem. 103 c, 138 b). This discrepancy we will examine below. But assuming that the work appeared after the persecution it will be recognized that the moment was |xi opportune for the publication of a book, "shewing what Christianity is to them that do not know," and for offering a deep and sound foundation for the faith of the half-convinced. For years the martyrs had been prominent in the world's eyes. The Church as a whole had been super naturally loyal. The future seemed to be with the no longer despised Christians. There must have been many thoughtful people ready to examine their claims, and to inquire into the secret of their constancy. Many again, conquered by the bright spectacle of their endurance, had already entered the Church's gate led chiefly by faith and hope, and were now ripe to sit at the feet of teachers who could philosophically unveil her heavenly knowledge.
Nor should we suppose that, though the Imperial Government had decided that the coercion of so powerful a mass of conviction was impossible, the prejudice of pagan priest hoods and of the leaders of philosophy was inclined to yield without every effort that criticism, ridicule, and conservative tradition could exert. Celsus had been followed as protagonist against Christianity by Porphyry, and it was against him that the polemical weapons of the Demonstratio were forged. Porphyry had a very intimate knowledge of the Christian faith. He had possibly been a convert (Soc., H.E. iii. 23) and a pupil of Origen (Eus., H.E. vi. 19). He had written a book, Contra Christianos , full of acute criticisms, some of which the mind of the later Church has justified and accepted. There are quotations from this work in Praep. Ev. 28 c, 29 b, 179 d, 237 a to 241 b; and allusions to Porphyry in Praep. Ev. 143 c, 144 b, 190 a; Dem. Ev. 134. The high level of the attack would account for the comprehensiveness, the massive learning, and the dignity of the rejoinder, which gathers together and sums up the labours of previous Apologists. But, as we shall see, Eusebius did not set out to refute the arguments of Porphyry point by point, as Origen dealt with Celsus, or Justin with the Jew Trypho. He preferred to confront followers of the acute critic with the fact of Christianity as a blessed and growing power. He aimed at showing the supernatural agreement of its Founder's life and death with the prophecies. He felt that on the flowing tide of divine power he could afford to disregard the eddying currents that ran impotently across it. Eusebius indeed wrote a |xii definite rejoinder to Porphyry, the κατὰ Πορφορίου , a work in twenty-five books; this in all probability was later in his life. In this book it is quite likely that he attempted to meet the objections of Porphyry seriatim. His aim in the Demonstraiio was of a more general character.
To sum up, it was the cessation of persecution, the profound impression made on the educated and uneducated alike by the imperial change of front, the proud sense within the Church itself that its patience had triumphed, combined with the presence of the opposing criticism of the cultured, which may be said to have been the occasion for the great literary effort, which is called by Lightfoot "probably the most important apologetic work of the Early Church."
§ 2. THE DATE
This question is involved in conflicting internal evidence. Is the Demonstratio earlier or later than the History, which is generally dated A.D. 325? The passage ει γουν τι δυναται η ημετερα ιστοπια ( Dem. 273 d) proves nothing, for we must translate with Lightfoot, not "my history," but "my personal observation." Neither can the passage in the History ( H.E. i. 2 ad fin.) be safely regarded as referring to the Demonstratio . There is a direct reference to the Quaestiones ad Stephanum in Dem. 353 c, but this does not prove that the whole of the latter work was anterior to the Demonstratio , for the Quaestiones have a cross-reference to the Demonstratio in col. 912 - ωσπερ ουν συνεστησαμεν εν ταις ευαγγελικαις αποδειξεσιν. It is suggested by Lightfoot that this part of the Quaestiones , the epitome or εκλογη εν συντομω, was added at a later date, in which case the Demonstratio would come between the Quaestiones and the Epitome .
Evidence from the mention of contemporary events is again conflicting, if we are seeking the date of the work as a whole. There is an obvious contrast between passages that speak of the Church as still undergoing persecution, e. g. Dem. 119 b, ο και εστιν εις δευρο θεωρουντας ενεργουμενον, ef. 182 d (εισετι και νυν) and 82 c, and those which in the manner of the earlier Apologists represent it as progressing and flourishing - e.g. Dem. 103 c and Praep. Ev. 9 d. The |xiii usual explanation of these discrepancies is to suppose that different sections of the work took shape at different times, the former towards the end of the Terror, the latter after its conclusion. (Gifford, Praeparatio , Tom. iii. pars. i. p. xii.)
But there seems nothing unreasonable in supposing that an historical writer, engaged in defending Christianity on the ground of its endurance and success, while surveying in one coup d'oeil the three centuries of its past struggle, might very naturally refer to a persecution, that had but recently relaxed its pressure, as present. If this be thought probable we may consider the whole work to have been written between A.D. 314 and A.D. 318. For the more than probable allusion in Praep. Ev. 135 c to the punishment by Licinius of the Antiochene theosophical impostors, described in H.E. ix. 11, would place the date after A.D. 314, whereas the theological language would seem to be too unguarded to allow it to be likely that it was penned near the time when the decision of the Arian controversy was imminent. And Arius was already attracting attention in A.D. 319. (Bright: Church of the Fathers, i. 56.)
§ 3. CONTENTS
Books I and II form an Introduction, for the opening of Book III regards them as "prolegomena." They describe the simplicity of Christian teaching, challenge the assumption that Christianity rests not on reason but on faith, and in claiming to use the Jewish scriptures, while rejecting the Jewish religion, establish the thesis that Christianity is a republication of the primitive religion of the patriarchs, from which the Mosaic religion was a declension, allowed by God because of the deterioration of the Jews under the assaults of the daemons during their exile in Egypt. Abundant prophetic evidence is given in Book II, that the coming of Messiah would synchronize with the downfall of the Jewish state, and the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Book III treats of Christ's Humanity, and is perhaps the most modern part of the argument. By an elaborate rc.ditdio ul. absitrdum the impossibility of Jesus Christ being aught but Perfect Man and Divine also is dramatically and cogently shown. |xiv
Books IV and V deal with the Divinity of Christ as Son and Logos, and it is in them that passages of an Arian ring have roused the anger of orthodox commentators.
Book VI and the following books deal with our Lord's Incarnate life as the fulfilment of prophecy. Book X reaches the Passion and is especially occupied with Judas and the Betrayal.
We may suppose with Lightfoot that the remainder of the work shewed the agreement of the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the foundation and growth of the Church with the predictions of the Jewish prophets.
A fragment of Book XV relates to the four kingdoms of the Book of Daniel, and suggests that that section of the work dealt with the doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church.
§ 4. RELATION TO EARLIER APOLOGIES
The Demonstratio comes at the end of a long series of apologetical works, and embodies and codifies their results. It is the work of a man of extraordinarily wide scholarship, which marshals and buttresses with additional support the "loci communes" of his predecessors. Eusebius is no adventurer breaking fresh ground.
A comparison of the Demonstratio with the Trypho or the contra Celsum reveals only a more systematic application of the argument from prophecy used by Justin and Origen. In some cases the prophecies are explained in almost identical language. We may instance the exegesis of Psalm xxii. in Book X with that of Justin, in Trypho , cc. 98-106, the references to Isaiah vii. 14, where he uses the language of Origen, contra Celsum , i. 35, points out that Jesus Christ alone suits the passage, and quotes Deut. xxii. 23, 24 in support of the translation of νεανις. The question of the Christian's rejection of the Jewish Law and his acceptance of the Jewish scriptures had been handled by Justin, and the most striking portion of the Demonstratio , the argument in Book III, that Christ was no sorcerer, may be said to have been suggested by Origen, contra Celsum , ii. 48, and Justin, 1st Apol. c. 30. His explanation of the Old Testament Theophanies is that of the earlier Apologists, his insistence that Christianity rests on reason as well as |xv faith, and his allegorical method, are plainly those of Origen and the Alexandrian school. It could hardly have been otherwise. After two centuries of defensive warfare against Jews and Greeks, the lines of controversy were clearly defined, and the apologetic writer but reiterated in a new form against the critics of his own day, what his predecessors hud said against a previous generation of critics. His "loci communes" were well known to the Catechist, just as the ordinary course of instruction to candidates for Confirmation follows a definite line to-day. The most he could achieve was to present in a systematic form such a codification of existing arguments as the circle around him required.
Yet the Praeparatio opens with a remarkable claim to originality of method. Eusebius contrasts the "more logical" nature of his proofs with "refutations and contradictions of opposing arguments, exegesis of scripture, and controversial advocacy" ( Praep. Ev. i. 3). Here alluding to a mass of evidential literature he proposes to reject "all deceitful and sophistical plausibilities" in favour of the evidence of the fulfilment of the Jewish prophecies in Christ, and the developing life of His Church. But this is very much what the earlier Apologists set out to do. In what sense can Eusebius say: "The purpose, however, which we have in hand is to be worked out in a way of our own" ( Praep. Ev. 7 a)?