On the Sources of Rufinus’ Church History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/clotho.5.1.67-91Keywords:
Rufinus of Aquileia, Eusebius of Caesarea, Church history, Gelasius, JeromeAbstract
The article focuses on the question of sources used by Rufinus of Aquileia while writing his Church history (an appendix of sorts to his translation of the Church history of Eusebius of Caesarea). It is clear from Rufinus’ text that he relied on both oral and written sources, although he hardly mentions the latter. Despite this, it has now been ascertained that he used several Latin and Greek sources. Rufinus’ reputation in the field of (Church) history has been somewhat shaken in the last century by the thesis that most of his Church History is a direct translation of the now-lost church history of Gelasius of Caesarea. Because of the premise that the latter can be reconstructed using later Greek sources, Rufinus’ Church history has received less scholarly attention than it deserves despite its shortcomings. Consequently, this paper focuses primarily on two aspects of the written sources used by Rufinus – the question of his dependence on Gelasius and the question of which sources one can say he used.
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