Who was the best recorder of early church history?

Answer 1

Some would say that the evangelist Luke was a church historian, having written the Acts of the Apostles. However, some scholars believe that Acts is not entirely historical. A very early church historian was Hegesippus, who lived around 170 CE. Hegesippus was a Jewish convert, probably from Palestine. Bishop Eusebius of Caesaria was a leading church historian of the fourth century, and is frequently quoted on earlry Christian doctrine and history.

Answer 2

A:By modern standards, none of the early Christian writers would be considered a competent historian. Having said that, Eusebius, who lived in the fourth century, was probably early Christianity's best historian.

Acts of the Apostles is traditionally attributed to Luke, although the book was originally anonymous. It is often regarded as a history of the early Church and is frequently held up as an example of excellent historical writing. However, New Testament scholars see it otherwise. John Dominic Crossan (The Birth of Christianity) says that Acts of the Apostles is theology rather than history. Burton L. Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament) more bluntly says that Acts of the Apostles marks the shift in focus for second century mythmaking, away from Jesus and towards the apostles, while Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says the book is a work of Propaganda aimed at Gentile Christians and Gentiles who have not yet become Christians. Hans Joachim Schoeps simply says that Acts has been "believed much too readily." Without even canvassing whether Luke the physician was really the author of Acts, we should rule this out as a useful record of early Church history.