Sebastian Weinert
PhD candidate - 1st cohort
Ancient History
Research project
"Eusebius of Caesarea’s Conception of History in Texts between Autonomy and Heteronomy"
Eusebius of Caesarea, the "father of church history", stands as a central figure in an era of change: during his lifetime, the persecutions of Christians came to an end, and the first Roman emperor was baptised. Eusebius processed the events of his time in both historical and theological writings. The literary genera which he created developed an influence that was to last for centuries: his Church History and his Chronicle became examples that were followed by a multitude of successors. He thus had a lasting influence as a historian. At the same time, one should not try to understand the historian Eusebius only by examining those of his writings which are traditionally classified as historiography. His historical thinking is reflected in all of his works; for Eusebius, theological, apologetic and exegetical thoughts were always connected with history.
This fundamental assumption underlies my dissertation project. The subject of study is Eusebius's apologetic magnum opus, consisting of the Praeparatio Evangelica and the Demonstratio Evangelica, which represents a kind of Christian prehistory, but is usually studied from a theological and patristic perspective. In structure, the work consists of a multitude of quotations from older literature which are drawn upon to illustrate Eusebius's argumentation. Because of this structure, the work has often been used as a "quarry" to extract fragments from lost authors, while Eusebius himself has often been disregarded as a writer in his own right. An analysis of the sources used by Eusebius guided by the history of ideas – with a focus on the dependence, the heteronomy, in which the author consciously places himself as well as the independence, the autonomy, which he develops in the process – promises a better understanding of the historical conceptions of this important writer.
Curriculum Vitae
University Studies and Degrees:
Since May 2023 Doctoral Researcher at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, DFG Research Training Group „Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages“
2022 – 2023 M.A. in History at Goethe University Frankfurt
2017 – 2022 B.A. in History and American Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt
Professional Experience:
Since July 2023 Member of the Gruppo Italiano di Ricerca su Origene e la Tradizione Alessandrina
2022 – 2023 Teaching Assistant, Goethe University Frankfurt, Medieval History, Professor Jörg W. Busch
2020 – 2023 Assistant, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of English and American Studies, American History, Professor Simon Wendt
2019 – 2023 Assistant, Goethe University Frankfurt, Ancient History, Professor Hartmut Leppin
Publications
Übersetzungen:
Richard Payne, „Ein iranisches Assyrien. Die Macht der Vergangenheit in der Spätantike“, HZ 312 (2021): S. 1–33.
Presentations
„Eusebs Praeparatio evangelica – ein Steinbruch?“, Vortrag im Kolloquium des Graduiertenkollegs 2792 Autonomie heteronomer Texte in Antike und Mittelalter, Universität Jena, 26. Juni 2024
“Conceptions of History in Eusebius’s Works: Between Heteronomy and Autonomy”, Vortrag im Rahmen der International Summer School Forms of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and Byzantium and Methods of Research, 24.-28. September 2023, Universität Jena
„‚Wenn über dieselben Dinge alle ein und dasselbe sagen und schreiben‘: Die Symphonie der Beweisführung in der Apologetik des Eusebios“, Vortrag im Kolloquium des Graduiertenkollegs 2792 Autonomie heteronomer Texte in Antike und Mittelalter, Universität Jena, 5. Februar 2024
„‚Denn das Kennzeichen wahrer Geschichtsschreibung ist es, wenn über dieselben Dinge alle ein und dasselbe sagen‘: Heteronomie und symphonische Exegese bei Euseb von Caesarea“, Vortrag im althistorischen Kolloquium der Universität Bielefeld, 16. April 2024
“‘For it is evidence of true history if everyone both says and writes the same things about the same’: Symphonic Exegesis and Historiography in Eusebius of Caesarea”, Vortrag auf dem Princeton Graduate Exchange in Late Antique, Byzantine and Early Medieval History, 30. Mai-1. Juni 2024, Universität Mainz
“‘I think we ought to receive the history of the Hebrews from the learned among the Hebrews, and not from any other source’: National Historiography in Flavius Josephus and Eusebius”, Vortrag auf der 15. Celtic Conference in Classics, Panel Boundaries of Belonging – Discursive Negotiations of Identities, 9.-12. Juli 2024, Universität Cardiff
“Danielic Visions, the End of Polyarchy, and Rome as the μία μόναρχος ἡγεμονία: Eusebius of Caesarea’s Eschatological Concepts in a Neglected Catena Fragment (PG 24, 657–661)”, Vortrag auf der 19. International Conference on Patristic Studies, 5.-9. August 2024, Universität Oxford