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Early Alexandrian Christianity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Rorert M. Grant
Rorert M. Grant
Affiliation:
Mr. Grant is professor of New Testament and Early Christianity in the Divinity School of theUniversity of Chicago.His paper was first delivered as the Presidential Address at the dinner meeting of The American Society of Church History on December 29, 1970 in Boston
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Extract

Nearly everything that is recorded about the early history of Alexandrian Christianity lies in the Church History of Eusebius. Many Alexandrian theological writings are preserved, but as might be expected they cast little light on historical events. Now the basic difficulty with Eusebius' work is that it has to be classified as “official history.” It therefore contains a judicious mixture of authentic record with a good deal of suppression of fact and occasional outright lies. He wrote it in defence of himself and his friends and their outlook toward the nascent imperial church establishment under God's messenger Constantine.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 1971 , pp. 133 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1971

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