Reddit mentions of Eusebius: The Church History

tl;dr: I read what the early Christians said about themselves, and the Assemblies of God didn't match.

Basically three guys pulled the foundation out from under: First I read some Hegel, and noticed that American pop evangelicalism owes more to him than to any Christian thinker. Started me thinking about how much "church" owes to western/Enlightenment culture and this generation's values - and how much effort we invest in a form of spirituality that will be irrelevant to the next generation. So what's the core of worship, discipleship, and mission that does not depend on culture?

Then I ran across Eusebius' "Church History" (Maier's excellent translation here) A fourth-century writer telling what Christianity looks like and how it got that way. Instead of arbitrary lines of apostolic succession, he ties together the personalities, controversies, heresies and persecutions, and (for his time) does an amazing job of citing his sources. Bottom line: The history I'd learned was fiction; there weren't democratic, nonsacramental, charismatic house churches followed by Instant Catholicism when Constantine took over; the "catholic" stuff in many cases goes back to the first century, and (outward trappings aside) post-Nicene dogma doesn't differ much at all from ante-Nicene. Also FWIW the Church doesn't bother with radical enculturation until after Constantine.

Finally, Cyril Richardson's highly readable translation of the Early Christian Fathers let me read how the earliest Christians understood the scriptures. He also provides deep detail on the provenance and history of each document, so the reader can see how Christians have responded to these writings over the centuries. They don't just come out of some Evil Catholic's propaganda - each document has accreted nearly 2000 years of commentary and controversy.

Reading those three won't necessarily make you become Orthodox. But if anybody lets the Christians of the apostolic era judge his own beliefs and practices, he won't be able to stay satisfied with modern American evangelicalism.

It's one of the most important primary sources for early Church history. Definitely worth reading for anyone interested in that subject. This particular edition also has companion material by Dr. Paul Maier, who's also known for his edition of Josephus.

Lol you sound like my family.

Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History https://www.amazon.com/dp/1599475367/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_bfhNBb5VJRK76

Eusebius: The Church History https://www.amazon.com/dp/082543307X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_UfhNBb1P8XHR2

Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church (Modern Apologetics Library) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0898707234/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fghNBbFWXATPK

Start with Eusebius and then hit the rest.