Eusebius studied at Caesarea Maritima under the scholar and martyr Pamphilus, whose great library, built on Origen's, became his workshop. He lived through the Great Persecution and became bishop of Caesarea about 313.
He wrote the first full history of the church, from Christ to Constantine, as well as a life of Constantine and many works on Scripture and in defence of the faith. At Nicaea in 325 he signed the creed, but he was slow to embrace its key word, homoousios, and he later sided with the bishops who deposed Athanasius.
Eusebius of Caesarea in the library (5 works)
- Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine — 1890
The foundational history of the church's first three centuries, with the Life of Constantine — the primary narrative source for the age of the Council of Nicaea. - Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 1 — c. 313; translation 1903
Books 1–9 of Eusebius's great apology: the pagan theologies and oracles weighed and found wanting, and the Hebrew Scriptures shown to be older and truer. Preserves many lost Greek authors. - Eusebius: Preparation for the Gospel, Part 2 — c. 313; translation 1903
Books 10–15: the Greeks' debt to the Hebrews, Plato set beside Moses, and the contradictions of the philosophers. - Eusebius: The Proof of the Gospel, Vol. 1 — c. 314–318; translation 1920
The sequel to the Preparation: the prophets fulfilled in Christ, and the Church as the fulfilment of Israel's hope (Books 1–5). - Eusebius: The Proof of the Gospel, Vol. 2 — c. 314–318; translation 1920
Books 6–10: the prophecies of Christ's coming, birth, ministry, passion and resurrection.