Eusebius deceptive?

[RGL1]

Some try to discredit the Church and Bible by pointing out alleged sins in people of the early Church.

I got this quote from another thread:
http://www.christianforums.com/t2463...c-is-okey.html post #5
Bishop Eusebius, who presided over the Council of Nicea, , entitles the 32nd Chapter of his 12th Book of Evangelical Preparation:

"How it may be Lawful and Fitting to use Falsehood as a Medicine, and for the Benefit of those who Want to be Deceived."

Anyone have information about this? Is this a valid quote?

 

[GrinningDwarf]

Philip Schaff in History of the Christian Church mentions Evangelical Preparation, but doesn't quote anything from it. Schaff says Eusebius tried to ride the fence at the Nicean council between Arianism and Orthodoxy. Before the council, he sympathized with Arius. He eventually agreed to Nicene Creed, but he "reserv(ed) his own interpretation of homoousion."

I'll try to post more later when I can get to my laptop. I've got the Hendrick's collection of the church father's writings on it.

 

[GrinningDwarf]

Philip Schaff in History of the Christian Church mentions Evangelical Preparation, but doesn't quote anything from it. Schaff says Eusebius tried to ride the fence at the Nicean council between Arianism and Orthodoxy. Before the council, he sympathized with Arius. He eventually agreed to Nicene Creed, but he "reserv(ed) his own interpretation of homoousion."

I'll try to post more later when I can get to my laptop. I've got the Hendrick's collection of the church father's writings on it.

Wow. The collection has two writings by Eusebius...but Evangelical Preparation isn't one of them!!

I'll have to look around some more...

 

[GrinningDwarf]

I did find this...

http://www.preteristarchive.com/StudyArchive/e/eusebius_historian.html#necessary to use falsehood

You have to go halfway down the lengthy page to find the reference to the quote you are questioning. Seems that it's a creative mis-quote by Edward Gibbon, of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire fame...and a known anti-Christian.

Since we have seen in the first section that Gibbon's words have been misunderstood, it's interesting to see this comment by Gibbon himself. It would seem that the tendency of Gibbon's remarks discussed earlier to mislead was raised at the time, by this Dr. Chelsum. We have already seen that the remarks he made in Decline and Fall are indeed commonly taken as a direct quotation from Eusebius, which they are not. Gibbon's response is to patronisingly deride 'the importance of this discovery'.

These remarks by Gibbon would appear to be a source for the allegation we are discussing, even if Gibbon's words are rather more negative even than we started with. Neverthless it gives us a source reference, with which to look up the text; and we have already looked at the Praeparatio Evangelica.

Consequently, unless the context forbids -- and plainly from BURY we learn it does not -- the chapter heading might equally be rendered:

XXXI. That it will be necessary sometimes to use fiction as a remedy for the benefit of those who require such a mode of treatment​

And this, of course, places a different slant on the text. If on the other hand we presume the chapter title is by Eusebius, and we presume that the word 'lie' is intended by him, with all its connotation of inflicting injury, then we can reasonably say that the quote doesn't make Eusebius look very good.


But is this -- Gibbon's interpretation -- fair comment? Is Eusebius advocating the use of lies? or is this a discussion of the use of parables, and the value of fiction in education? Clearly there is room for more than one opinion here, and I would rather not suggest certainty where a judgement has to be made of a number of ideas. This is something the reader must do for himself; but I think Eusebius is not advocating dishonesty, so much as suggesting that fiction has a role to play in education.
It is difficult to see Gibbon's remarks as fair comment, particularly when one notices the mistranslation of the final part of the chapter heading.

 

[GrinningDwarf]

Just wanted to add one more observation from that website...

The author points out that like many other ancient documents, Eusebius' original did not have chapter divisions. They were added in the middle ages...therefore, chapter titles were certainly not added before the chapter divisions and are not to be considered Eusebius' own words.

 

[heymikey80]

Some try to discredit the Church and Bible by pointing out alleged sins in people of the early Church.

I got this quote from another thread:
http://www.christianforums.com/t2463...c-is-okey.html post #5
Bishop Eusebius, who presided over the Council of Nicea, , entitles the 32nd Chapter of his 12th Book of Evangelical Preparation:

"How it may be Lawful and Fitting to use Falsehood as a Medicine, and for the Benefit of those who Want to be Deceived."

Anyone have information about this? Is this a valid quote?

Just a couple of concurring comments with GrinningDwarf ....

The Greek term is "pseudos", which of course means anything that's not true.

Do others use fiction -- say, Barrington Bunny or the Matrix or other tales to illustrate what Christianity is saying about the truth? They're using "pseudos", too.

I'm not completely certain, but looking at the context of the chapter headings, Eusebius is talking about addressing vain sophistry using untruths. He may even simply mean assuming an untruth for the sake of showing its inconsistency. I haven't read the book from Eusebius, I'm not even sure where to find it. But it seems to me there's far more going on here, and Gibbon is simply his accusatory self (and he's beginning to look alot like those he opposed, now many years later).