Socrates, Scholasticus, an ecclesiastical historian, was born at Constantinople towards the end of the 5th century. He studied grammar and rhetoric under Ammonius and Helladius, of Alexandria, and afterwards followed the profession of advocate or scholastic. He appears, however, to have abandoned this profession in order wholly to devote himself to the study of ecclesiastical history. In the latter part of his life he undertook to write the history of the Church, beginning at 309, where Eusebius ends, and continued it down to 440, in seven books. He is generally considered the most exact and judicious of, the three continuators of the history of Eusebius, being less florid in his style and more careful in his statements than Sozomen, and less credulous than Theodoret. "His impartiality is so strikingly displayed," says Waddington, "as to make his orthodoxy questionable to Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic historian; but Valesius, in his life, has shown that there is no reason for such suspicion. He is generally suspected of being a Novatian, though he shows but little knowledge upon the subject, and confounds Novatian, a priest at Rome, with Novatus of Africa." His history has been abridged by Epiphanius, the scholastic, in his Historia Tripartita, and was published for the first time as a continuation of Eusebius by Robert Stephens (Paris, 1544, fol.). There was an edition with notes, published by Reading (Lond. 1720, 3 vols. fol.), and an English edition (Cambridge, 1683, fol.). There is a good French translation of it by the president Cousin. See Smith, Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biog. s.v.
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More