The platonic-christian trinity: use and inversion of Eusebius of Caesarea's apologetic strategy in Ralph Cudworth

Abstract

Ralph Cudworth explicitly mentions Eusebius of Caesarea in many instances throughout par. xxxvi of ch. 4 of The True Intellectual System and almost all references belong to book xi of Praeparatio Evangelica, especially the section comprising chs. 9 to 20. In the present paper we analyze these references in order to show that the Cambridge professor considers these chapters when discussing the Trinitarian theme, because he intends to argue in favour of the continuity between Christianity and Platonism, like Eusebius, but reversing the apologetic strategy that the Caesarean author uses in his work. This difference is due to the particular historical contexts of each author: Eusebius makes an apology for Christianity, showing its agreement with Platonism, while Cudworth makes an apology for Platonism, presenting its affinity with Christianity.