If history he accurately defined as philosophy teaching by examples, no branch of it can contain lessons of philosophy so interesting and important as the history of the church. Taking the terms in the most comprehensive sense, church history for more than four thousand years is matter of express revelation. It is the history of man and of Divine providence in their most momentous aspects, and has therefore been selected from the common trains of history to form the subject of an inspired chronicle. The Acts of the Apostles complete the annals; thenceforth ecclesiastical history flows from a different origin. Aeterna Press

本书主要描述作为一门学问的拜占庭研究是如何从无到有、从小到大发展起来的，是什么原因导致这门学问的产生，并逐渐成为热门学科，以及国际拜占庭学发展趋势和最新动态，简述拜占庭历史的基本脉络与主要线索，分析了拜占庭研究的发展史、研究现状和当前的重点问题等内容。