Abstract
This project explores the surge in scholarship on ancient Church history during the late seventeenth century and its impact on ideas of religious orthodoxy, authority, and historical methodology. Recent research highlights how Gallican scholars of the period prioritised the historical study of the early Church to define doctrinal orthodoxy and limit contemporary Church authority. My study broadens this narrative by focusing on a diverse yet overlooked group of scholars from outside the traditional Gallican sphere. These scholars challenge the prevailing view that early Church history directly opposed contemporary religious authority, instead revealing varied perspectives on the relationship between historical scholarship and concepts like contemporary religious "authority" and "orthodoxy." Furthermore, the project uncovers how the work of these historians, by incorporating numismatic, antiquarian, and chronological research, came to elevate the status of historical inquiry. Their methods not only uncovered new historical knowledge but, in reshaping scholarly practices, granted historical knowledge a new prominence in intellectual life. Positioned at the crossroads of the history of knowledge, historiography, and early modern religious and intellectual history, this work also engages with broader debates about how scientific knowledge, cultural traditions, and religious authority interact—questions that remain strikingly relevant today.
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