Known as the “Father of Church History,” Eusebius was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and the leading Christian scholar of his day. His Ecclesiastical History is an irreplaceable chronicle of Christianity’s early development, from its origin in Judaism, through two and a half centuries of illegality and occasional persecution, to a new era of tolerance and favor under the Emperor Constantine. In this book, Michael J. Hollerich recovers the reception of this text across time. As he shows, Eusebius adapted classical historical writing for a new “nation,” the Christians, with a distinctive theo-political vision. Eusebius’s text left its mark on Christian historical writing from late antiquity to the early modern period—across linguistic, cultural, political, and religious boundaries—until its encounter with modern historicism and postmodernism. Making Christian History demonstrates Eusebius’s vast influence throughout history, not simply in shaping Christian culture but also when falling under scrutiny as that culture has been reevaluated, reformed, and resisted over the past 1,700 years.

This deluxe volume on Caesarea, climaxing new excavations in 1992-95, discusses comprehensively a famous ancient city's archaeology, history and culture. New discoveries include the amphitheater and royal palace, temple dedicated to Roma and Augustus, and the spectacular artificial harbor explored under water.

The third and final installment of the trilogy, this novel reveals the what happens in a town that can't get to sleep at night, where everybody's embarrassed but nobody is mentioning the mess. The book asks questions the town doesn't want answered, such as Who's been sleeping in your bed? You're safe when you lock your front door, right? Not in this town, the story reveals.

In 1962 E. Jerry Vardaman worked as an assistant director on the Michael Avi-Yonah Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima, Israel. Vardaman's records from his work at Caesarea include personal correspondence with leading scholars at the time such as W.F. Albright, H. Comfort and M. Avi-Yonah, sketches of the excavation units and several artifacts, daily field notes contained in two small memo books, and over 70 photographs both in color and black & white. Vardaman's records were kept in a file cabinet for over 40 years, and only recently have been given to ML Govaars for research and publication. The significance of Vardaman's records is in the fact that Avi-Yonah published only a small preliminary report on the 1962 excavation project with no photographs or drawings. Here for the first time are photographs from all areas of the 1962 Hebrew University excavation including the supposed "synagogue site" and Strato's Tower. Also for the first time is an architect's drawing of the structural remains from the "synagogue site" published. Most importantly, all are published in color. This is a rare look into an archaeological excavation from the 1960s. Vardaman recorded a first hand account of the on-going excavation work on a daily basis. In the field notebooks are notes on excavation strategy, who was working in which units that day, location data for artifact finds, basket numbers, and depth of excavation levels among other information. By virtue of being an assistant director, Vardaman had access to all the areas undergoing excavation during his two months at Caesarea, discussed key artifact finds, made "rubbings" of pottery stamps and developed a genuine overview of the project. The 1962 Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima collected data from the "synagogue site," Byzantine houses, remnants of a "Hellenistic structure" thought to be the foundation for Strato's Tower and a large accumulation of Hellenistic pottery fragments. The previously unpublished Vardaman data from the "synagogue site" and the Strato's Tower excavation are the subjects of the next two volumes in the series. These volumes will include measured drawings, artifact drawings, field data including measurements, photographs and specialized articles contributed by scholars who have studied and analyzed the material. MARYLINDA GOVAARS has over ten years of archaeological field experience both in the United States and overseas. At Caesarea, Govaars worked as assistant surveyor/architect in 1980, and then as head surveyor/architect in 1982 and 1984. She was first introduced to E.J. Vardaman in 1982 while working on her Master's thesis titled "A Reconsideration of the Synagogue Site at Caesarea Maritima, Israel" (Drew University, 1983, unpublished copyright protected). Govaars has been consulting with the E. Jerry Vardaman Estate since 2002. E. Jerry Vardaman (1927-2000) taught at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Mississippi State University. While at SBTS Vardaman led a group of volunteer excavators to join the Michael Avi-Yonah led Hebrew University excavation at Caesarea Maritima. As assistant director of the excavation, Vardaman kept field notes, made sketches and took color photographs. Later, Vardaman served as director of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University.

Eusebius was more than a mere collector of history. He was a vigorous apologist and polemicist in his own right. Kofsky encourages us to take seriously Eusebius's efforts against the pagan assailants of the Christianity of his time. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.

Sometime in 1997 the ancient city of Banias passed its 2000th anniversary, yet there was no celebration. John Francis Wilson brings us the story of Banias, or ancient Caesarea Philippi, the city that sat at the source of the Jordan River in what are now known as the Golan Heights region. In doing so he brings to life a city whose history is a microcosm of that of the Middle East itself. Banias' story starts in Canaanite times. Under Herod Phillip( died AD 34)it became Caesarea Philippi and was a focal point for the cult of the god Pan throughout the Roman period. With the accession of the Christian Emperor Constantine its pagan heritage brought it into conflict with emerging Christianity. In the following centuries came Arab conquest, the Crusades, neglect and decay, rediscovery in the 19th century by European travellers and finally its destruction in the Six Days War after being occupied by Israeli forces. Wilson reminds us that cities without people are desolate: interspersed amongst the invasions and religious conflicts are the people whose lives touched the life of this city: Herod the Great and his sons, Jesus of Nazareth, the emperors Vespasian and Titus, Saladin and even Samuel Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain. John Francis Wilson has had complete access to the site, and has drawn upon a wealth of sources in order to provide the first comprehensive history of this remarkable city . Its story will make fascinating reading to historians, general readers and those interested in the archaeology and narrative of the Near East.