l-bow

I've come across some webpages that say Eusebius never said he advocated lying for God. Is that so?

Here's one page:

<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/eusebius/eusebius_the_liar.htm" target="_blank">http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/eusebius/eusebius_the_liar.htm</a>

[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: l-bow ]</p>

Bede

'Fraid so. Eusebius wasn't a great historian (and in many ways was quite crap) but not really much worse than others at the time. His history was mainly composed of quotations so is as reliable as its sources.

Edited to add: he was happy, following Plato, to use fables and parables for religious teaching but this isn't anything to do with his history.

Yours

Bede

<a href="http://www.bede.org.uk" target="_blank">Bede's Library - faith and reason</a>

[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Bede ]</p>

Toto

We just hashed through that in this thread:

<a href="http://iidb.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=51&t=000145" target="_blank">Josephus Passage</a>

Check out pages 3 and 4. You will find the author of that web page checking in, and some contributions by Richard Carrier. Alex Comnenus is Bede.

Short answer: Eusebius seems to approve of fiction for those who can't handle the truth. Only a Christian apologist can claim that Eusebius is a proponent of the literal truth and not above fudging things for the greater glory of god. But read it all for yourself.

{edited to fix link}

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: Toto ]</p>

l-bow

Interesting point about Plato, Bede. I remember reading an article in the magazine _Reason_, about why some secular conservatives are supporting the Intelligent Design movement. Apparently they are of the opinion that some truths should kept away from the public, and that evolution is one of them. The author mentions Plato's idea of the "Noble lie".


<a href="http://reason.com/9707/fe.bailey.shtml" target="_blank">http://reason.com/9707/fe.bailey.shtml</a>


[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: l-bow ]

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: l-bow ]

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: l-bow ]</p>

Vorkosigan

Toto, the link doesn't work.

Bede

Hi I-Bow,

That's a different bit of Plato as you can see here <a href="http://www.xrefer.com/entry/552954" target="_blank">Noble Lie</a>.

B

Toto

Great article, I-bow.

Bede - how is that different from the Noble Lie?

{edited to add - I fixed the link.}

[ July 19, 2002: Message edited by: Toto ]</p>

Bede

Sorry, not being clear. All I meant was that the noble lie passage in Plato is not the one Eusebius quotes.

B