The Bible in Ancient Christian Historiography

How did the Bible shape the ways ancient Christians wrote history? The Bible in Ancient Christian Historiography examines how biblical texts informed, structured, and animated Christian historical writing from the first to the eighth centuries CE. Spanning diverse genres, from chronicles and church histories to sacred and secular narratives, the volume surveys all extant authors and works across Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopic traditions. Each contribution analyzes how biblical language, stories, and interpretive frameworks are embedded in historical texts and maps the use of scriptural references. By systematically exploring the intersection of the Bible and historiography, this handbook fills major gaps in scholarship on biblical reception and on late antique historiography, while situating well-known texts alongside lesser-studied traditions. Essential for scholars and advanced students of ancient Christianity, biblical studies, late antiquity, and the middle ages, this volume offers a foundational resource for understanding how the Bible shaped the historical imaginations and literatures of ancient Christian cultures.