An Analysis Of Early Christian Historiography (AD 1-4)

The Ecclesiastical History, written by Eusebius, Father of Church History, represents the establishment of Christian historiography as a momentous and distinctive paradigm in the field of western historiography.Christian historiography, however; presents itself more as a departure from the traditional historiography than a continuance. However influential the previous Greek, Roman and Jewish historiographies had been, western historiography, when it met the burgeoning Christianity, was revolutionized. It was therefore chiefly the efforts of the early Christians since Jesus Christ but not the previous historiographies that brought about the revolution. Besides, the reflections of the early Christians on the traditional historical ideas are also in themselves the theoretical support and long-term preparations for the development of Christian historiography.Therefore, a research of the Christian historiography calls for an inquiry into this early period of Christian historiography, i.e.,the1st century to the early4th century. My thesis, by means of a diachronic research, focuses on the historical ideas of the early Christians who exerted a significant influence on Christian historiography, so that more can be revealed about how the early Christian historiography began, developed and eventually became what it was.The introduction in my thesis consists of the reasons for choosing such a topic and its significance, general review of the relevant studies both in China and overseas, and the structure of this thesis.The main part of this thesis is composed of the four following chapters.The title of the first chapter is "The Influences before the Birth of the Early Christian Historiography". Two aspects are discussed here of the influence of Greek, Roman and Jewish historiographies on Christian historiography. One aspect is entitled as "the fading western antique historiography", which focuses on the Greek and Roman influence. These two historiographies emphasized the search for the historical "truth" through historians themselves, but such search was impeded at the time when Christianity was emerging, which prepared for the introduction of God into history by Christians. The other aspect is entitled as "the influence of the Jewish ideas", focusing on the discussion of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the understanding of Josephus, a Jewish historian and Philo, a Jewish.The second chapter is entitled as "The First Inquiry into Early Christian Historiography", and is divided into two parts-"Jesus, founder of the Christian historical ideas " and " Luke’s early attempts to establish Christian historiography". The former part analyzes Jesus’ historical concepts revealed in the New Testament, especially Jesus’ theoretical support and guidance for Christian historiography. The latter part chiefly studies Luke and Acts, and centers on how they influence Christian historiography and what kind of Christian historical features are represented in their narratives."A Pioneer of Christian Historical Interpretation" is the title of Chapter Three, which is also divided into two parts, with Theophilus and Tertullian, the two early outstanding Christians as their respective focuses. It was Theophilus who established a complete set of historical interpretative theories that extract the connoted historical meaning from the historical narratives, making historical narratives more point to truths than mean what they are recorded or denote the facts. It was also Theophilus who composed the first chronicle that features Christianity, and therefore, he is a true pioneer of Christian historiography.The second part in Chapter Three centers on Tertullian, and on how he defended the Christian belief by employing "history" in his Apology when he witnessed the persecution inflicted upon Christianity by the Roman authority and the heathen world. Furthermore, it is also pointed out that Tertullian lays down a theoretical path for Christianity where God’s Grace is proved by history, with history as a medium between the law and the Deity."The Establishment of Early Christian Historiography" is the title of the fourth chapter, which is divided into three sections. Eusebius’ The Ecclesiastical History, which is the focus of the first section of Chapter Three, is the milesone of the establishment of Christian historiography. An interpretation of The Ecclesiastical History is later carried out, and at the end of this section, there is a review and summary of the preparations made by early Christian historical ideas for The Ecclesiastical History.The second section is closely connected to the section above, and systematically reviews and researches what theories early Christian historiography constructs when dealing with the relationship with the outside world, especially the political authority. It is revealed here that early Christian historiography found for Rome a divine origin, established for the Empire a universal system, and constructed for the Roman authority an approval from God. Christianity’s recognition of the Roman Empire has enormous theoretical power, by which early Christian historiography became closely related with the Roman authorities. This also marks the new feature of the early Christian historiography, i.e., a willingness to embrace the political power.Based on the research in the above two sections, the third one studies the establishment of a new theory-the allegorical interpretation of Scripture and its influence on early Christian historiography. It is the allegorical interpretation of Scripture that helps God descends onto Christian historiographers. This theory developed from Philo, the Jewish philosopher, and by way of Paul, Tertullian, Origen, it was revised as a theory in the field of history, and finally, it was established by Eusebius in the field of Christian historiography.The conclusion part briefly deals with the significance and influence of early Christian historiography on the development of Christian historiography and western historiography as a whole.