An interesting book I read 10 or 11 years ago.
Ethnicity and Argument in Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica
Oxford Early Christian Studies
Aaron P. Johnson.
$139.99
Link: Ethnicity and Argument PDF
Interesting tidbit from something I tweeted 7 years ago:
…88354817,””,””,”2018-05-13 19:33:18 +0000″,”Twitter Web Client“,”Eusebius of Caesarea 0 0 0 sublimating any pagan roots…used an image of the Black Madonna as Preparatio Evangelii or evangelical preparation, a readily accepted introduction to the full Christian mystery…”
https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/b/black-madonnas-origin-history-controversy.php”
More specifically: “We may even wonder whether pagan statues of Mother and Child were thought to represent someone other than the Virgin Mary and her Son, Jesus. For Roman Catholics, Mary is “The Woman.” (cf. Jn 2 and 19) Similarly, the only child worthy of special note is “The Christ Child.” Lacking explicit identification, it seems natural that Christians read these perspectives into any art they saw. In fact, it seems that Eusebius of Caesarea took advantage of this predisposition and, sublimating any pagan roots [which he considered likely], used an image of the black Madonna as preparatio evangelii or evangelical preparation, a readily accepted introduction to the full Christian mystery, which is indeed centered on the Word’s Incarnation through Mary…” link
