This introductory volume to the late ancient Christian author Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–339 c.e.) is published in I.B. Tauris’ series Understanding Classics. The aim of the series is to introduce ancient authors to a broad, non-specialist readership, including undergraduates and generalists, through an overview of social, political and cultural contexts, major works and reception. Other volumes in the series are dedicated to Homer, Virgil and Cicero. This Eusebius volume is only one of two currently in the series dedicated to early Christian authors: the other, not surprisingly, is Augustine. The choice of Eusebius may seem peculiar, but it is quite appropriate given his location and activities during a pivotal historical and cultural moment and as ‘one of the most important intellectuals whose writings survive from Late Antiquity’ (p. xi). This book examines the church father's creative engagement with ‘many of the literary and scholarly traditions of the Greek heritage’ (p. xi) for an audience that might not otherwise encounter, or care to encounter, him. J. successfully treats Eusebius’ life, thought and works in a manner that demonstrates his participation in the scholarly fields of Late Antiquity and illustrates the experimentation and ‘creative counterpoise’ he affected between Christian thought and the ‘words and worlds of the classical heritage’ (p. 10). The book is divided into six chapters: an introductory chapter that explores Eusebius’ contexts, followed by five chapters that thematically arrange and discuss his writings. It includes a useful glossary with a selection of literary, historical and theological terms.

Very little is known about Eusebius’ life, as J. acknowledges (p. 18). Therefore, the bulk of Chapter 1 treats the political and intellectual contexts of the late-third and early-fourth centuries. J.'s selection of the Third Century Crisis, the Great Persecution and the rise of Constantine as key historical benchmarks is sensible and responsibly crafted. The discussion of Eusebius’ intellectual context exhibits J.'s expertise in this area. Emphasising the close contacts between Christian and pagan intellectuals in the third century, he highlights the role of the splintered circle of the philosopher Ammonius Saccas upon the major philosophical movements later in that century, including the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus and Porphyry and the Christian philosophy of Origen of Alexandria, whose intellectual projects Eusebius continued (pp. 17–18). J. notes the parallel and dialectical development between these traditions in a way that breaks down the conceptual boundaries often erected between paganism and Christianity in this period. The chapter ends with a chronology of Eusebius’ works which exposes the immense difficulties in dating.

J. opts for a thematic rather than a chronological presentation of Eusebius’ works. He first treats the apologetic works in Chapter 2. The main focus here is the Preparation for the Gospel, though J. briefly treats the Theophany at the end. J. characterises the Preparation as ‘an apologetic couched within a pedagogical programme’ (p. 27). As a sort of classroom philosophical introduction (eisagôgê), it aimed to shape an intellectually-minded Christian's approach to the works of the Greek classical tradition. J. spends a great amount of time discussing the theme of ethnic descent in the work,Footnote ¹ prefaced by the important ‘caveat’ that ‘[r]eligion was not extracted from ethnic and cultural identities in the Preparation’ (p. 46). While this is certainly a crucial theme for understanding Eusebius’ contribution to Christian identity formation, I think the treatment of the Preparation would have benefited from more sustained discussion of Eusebius’ reception of the Greek literary heritage and some reflection upon his custodianship of the Caesarea library.

Chapter 3 contextualises Eusebius’ ‘educational works’ within the intellectual practices and textual production of philosophical schools. J. begins with what is likely Eusebius’ earliest work, the General Elementary Education, a long-neglected text with a complicated transmission history, to which J. has brought renewed attention in his recent scholarship. The book-by-book description is extremely useful. The work is presented here as a pedagogical text that roots the philosophic life in a ‘Logocentric’ reading of the Hebrew scriptures (p. 59). Moving on to the Proof of the Gospel, J. again shows how questions of truth, virtue and ethnicity intersected in Eusebius’ thought as they often did in the writings of classical and Hellenistic Greek authors. If the Preparation served as an introduction for the initiate into the Christian scholarly world, its companion volume, the Proof, represented the ‘higher study’ (p. 64) of a curriculum. J. has laudably put a new perspective on these works (along with scholars like J. Schott and S. Inowlocki) giving attention to their own internal logic, and not just mining them for literary fragments or stray ideas. The chapter concludes with a brief presentation of several other works – commentaries and reference works – that may or may not have been part of a Christian curriculum. But they appear here at least as ‘scholarly by-products of a school context’ (p. 82). The discussion of school activities in this chapter might have been filled out some more with discussion of Eusebius’ relationship to the scholarly circles of Origen and Pamphilus.

Chapter 4 treats Eusebius’ historical writings. J. describes the Ecclesiastical History as ‘an innovative and exploratory advance in the conception of the task of history-writing itself’ (p. 85). He evidences this by the lengthy citation of documentary and earlier Christian sources – a ‘cumulative aesthetic’ (p. 26) – that creates an ‘immediacy’ between readers and texts and serves a legitimating role in the construction of the history of the church not simply as an institution, but as a people (p. 95). Here J. confronts two issues that have traditionally bogged down Eusebian studies: Eusebius’ accuracy and ‘honesty’ as a historian and the purpose of the History vis-à-vis Constantine's reign. J. Burckhardt's caricature of Eusebius as ‘the first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity’ (The Age of Constantine the Great [trans. 1949], p. 283) has had a long-lasting impact. J. advises that while Eusebius’ shortcomings must be recognised, scholars must move beyond the over-simplified historian/apologist dichotomy. This may be preaching to the choir of Early Christianity scholars, but for non-specialists still relying on older scholarship, this is a crucial ‘update’. J.'s contention that the aim of the History was not a manifesto of political–ecclesiastical unity under Constantine, but rather a ‘political confirmation of the true piety and wisdom embodied in the lives of Christians’ (p. 112) is an intriguing alternative that unfortunately becomes a bit too overshadowed by a detailed discussion of the complexities surrounding dating the composition and editions of the History.

Chapter 5 treats another controversial area – Eusebius’ theology. Again J. entreats his reader to abandon outdated caricatures. Focusing on the theological positions expressed in Against Marcellus, he asserts that ‘Eusebius was neither an “Arian” nor a “modified Arian”’ (p. 114). In this chapter, Eusebius’ theology of God is read in the context of Neo-Platonic metaphysics and disputes over biblical exegesis. This presentation helpfully situates Eusebius’ thought within surrounding intellectual and religious contexts. For an audience interested in classics, this approach successfully illustrates how Christian theology was not restricted to internal debates.

The final chapter covers Eusebius’ more politically-oriented works. While noting Eusebius’ ‘striking ideological move’ (p. 150) in undergirding the political authority of Constantine with a political theology rooted in Neo-Pythagorean philosophy, Hebrew prophecy and Christian Logos theology, J. warns against ‘hasty assumptions about fawning flattery and uncritical acceptance of the first Christian emperor’ (p. 151). Political panegyric was a long-standing Roman practice. Similarly, the Life of Constantine fits within the literary tradition of ancient biography. Even the comparison of Constantine with ancient models – here, notably, Moses – on the one hand follows long-standing convention and, on the other, innovates in its choice of the Hebrew lawgiver. J. sees the Life as part of a process of ‘inscripturation’ of the discourse that would be used to make sense of the late Roman world (p. 168).

This volume is an impressive overview of a very large body of work. J.'s presentation provides helpful summary and contextualisation while also correcting misunderstandings and caricatures of Eusebius with recent scholarship. It would make a fine textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.