May 11, 2018 marcions church was rigorous, demanding, inspiring, wellorganized, and for about a century fairly successful. A native of sinope in pontus, marcion came to rome c. Marcion and the marcionites 144 3rd century ce at the end of july, 144 ce, a hearing took place before the clergy of the christian congregations in rome. Its reconstructed fragments now appear among the new testament apocrypha. The sect which he founded spread widely, and was for a time a serious menace to the church. Although none of his own writings are extant it is possible to piece together a picture of the man and his message from the writings of his opponents, especially from tertullian c. Irenaeus indicates that marcion succeeded cerdon while anicetus was pope 157 to 168.
Marcion believed there was one true gospel which had been corrupted into many versions. The marcionite bible the marcionite bible was assembled by marcion of sinope, sometime in the earlymid second century. Gard the scriptures are collected in what is known as the it canon, that is, a grouping of writings received as authoritative and normative for faith and life. According to marcion, the god of the old testament was a wrathful, vengeful deity who wanted to keep humankind subject to himself, while christ was. Strongly antijewish, he distinguished the merely just god of the ot from the loving god and. Imposing latesecondcentury mores on an earlysecondcentury figure leads to great misunderstanding. The two other possibilities are that luke was created by adding antimarcionite passages to marcion s gospel, or that both luke and. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus a survey of marcions life and legacy. Translated by roger pearse mark mark recorded, who was called colobodactylus 1, because he had fingers that were too small for the height of the rest of his body. The churchs scripture and functional marcionism ctsfw. Marcion preached that the god who sent jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of judaism. Even before marcion and the great gnostic theologians appeared upon the scene, there were apparently many christians who declined to accept the god of the jews.
The god of the early christians, page 67, by arthur c. Although marcion is known only through reports and quotations from his orthodox opponents, especially tertullians adversus marcionem against marcion, the principal outlines of his teaching seem clear. Marcions canon actually had a positive side effect. After the production of lukeacts in response to marcions canon, it was seen by certain persons that a definitive response was needed and so the new testament itself was created. In the fifteenth year of the reign of tiberius caesar, 2. A secondcentury heretic who rejected all scripture except ten of pauls epistles and part of luke. Marcions pre144 manuscript of paul what i shall call the premar cionite text of rome must have contained a number of marginal glosses, for one of them is signaled by tertullian, when discussing pauls interpreta tion gal. Marcion s canon consisted of the euangelion, or the gospel of the lord, and the apostolikon, ten epistles of paul, not including the pastorals. His article said i misquoted and accused me of misleading people on.
In marcions doctrine, the material world is attributed to the evil. He considered himself a follower of paul the apostle, who he believed to have been the only true apostle of. Last week i witnessed one of the most bizarre things in the christiansocialmediaworld other than christians dogmatically refusing to acknowledge president trumps. Marcions pioneering role in establishing the earliest christian.
The evidence of marcion s gospel against an assumed marcionite redaction the historical study of early christianity continues to labor under the burden of assumptions carried over from traditional christian here siology. There is debate over whether marcion truncated luke and paul or whether later orthodox scribes may have expanded them in some cases. Higgins, the latin text in marcion and tertullian, vigchr 5 1951, 142, and t. Abstract marcionism originated in the teachings of marcion of sinope, who was expelled from the church in rome around 144 ce. The church also responded to marcions view of christ. God, whereas the spiritual world is attributed to the good god.
Marcion and getting unhitched from the old testament. There is little doubt that the teachings of marcion and his followers represented a greater threat to orthodox christianity than any other heresy in the second century. Contains many coptic texts, grammars, greek texts, liddelscott greekenglish lexicon, and others. Hippolytus of rome, he was the son of a bishop who excommunicated him on grounds of immorality. Marcion, the son of the bishop of sinope a seaport of pontus along the black sea who had become a wealthy shipowner, stood before the presbyters to expound his teachings in order to win others to his point of. But by ad 144, marcions views had gotten him into trouble, and he was excommunicated from the church. By the end of the second century, the church was articulating the canon of the old testament, largely in response to marcion and his heresy. Irenaeus writes that marcion learned many of his ideas in rome from cerdon1 another early christian leader condemned by irenaeus. The reception of the canon by the modern church is inhibited, it. His teaching made a radical distinction between the god of the. Marcion said the twelve taught a gospel of law where disobedience caused loss of salvation, especially found in matthews gospel. The gospel of marcion, called by its adherents the gospel of the lord, was a text used by the mid2nd century christian teacher marcion of sinope to the exclusion of the other gospels.
In 2012, the host of early church 101 took on my quote from tertullians against marcion from 207 ad where tertullian says paul was the apostle of the heretics. The reception of the canon by the modern church is inhibited, it seems to me, by functional marcionism. But he marcion had brought writings or letters to him john from the brothers which were in pontus. One of the striking details one cant help but ignore, and lends to the notion that. Here is a question that has been raised about one of my posts. Andy stanley, senior pastor of north point community church and founder of north point ministries, giving remarks at the exponential conference in orlando, florida on tuesday, february 27, 2018. To oppose the ordination of women bishops in the church of england is to deny the central role women played in the faiths founding. Marcions theological errors and there were many came from one main root. Bettany hughes, an expert in ancient history, was quoted recently in londons daily telegraph as saying that christianity was originally a faith where the female of the species held sway. Marcion s teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144.
The gospel of marcion, called by its adherents the gospel of the lord, was a text used by the mid2ndcentury christian teacher marcion of sinope to the exclusion of the other gospels. Coptic, greek, latin and providing many tools and resources dictionaties, grammars, texts. Marcion of sinope edinburgh research explorer the university. Luke, and this mutilated and altered, and even interpolated in a great variety of places. Marcion became very antijewish and rejected the early churchs struggle to be the true. Marcion, an avid disciple of paul, appeared on the seen determined to rescue the church from its judaic beliefs. Developing some eccentric theological views, he eventually taught that the god of the old testament was not the true god but rather that the true and higher god had been revealed only with jesus christ. The site includes the gnostic library, with the complete nag hammadi library and a large collection of other primary gnostic scriptures and documents. The epistle of the apostle paul to the laodiceans pdf. Although marcion is focused on to study the gnosticism and early christianity, it is an universal library working with various file formats and allowing to collect, organize. Marcion is often thought to have first established an explicit canon. Marcion of pontus, flourished 2nd century ce, christian heretic.
His teaching made a radical distinction between the god of the old testament the creator and the father of jesus. The archheretic marcions theology i am discussing the relationship between jesus and the law of the jews, and to get to that question i am dealing with how christians about a century after jesus life understood this relationship. There is little doubt that the teachings of marcion and his followers represented a greater threat to orthodox christianity than any other heresy in the second. Marcion, the son of a bishop, was an intelligent, capable, hard, unbending, vain, rich, ambitious man. He understood how paul had reprimanded the church at galatia for much the same thing. No, andy stanley isnt a marcionite the christian post. Marcion in the modern church, which excludes his fundamental theological. The question begins with a quotation from what i said, in contrast to something else i. The traditional view, espoused by early church fathers in their polemics against marcion, is that the gospel of marcion was produced by removing passages from luke that contradicted marcion s theological views. Gilles quispel, marcion and the text of the new testament, vigiliae christianae 52. Marcionism hartog 2011 major reference works wiley online. His article said i misquoted and accused me of misleading people on what it truly said.
Antithesis contradictions between the old testament deity and the new testament god. He is an important topic of the early church, the disunity he sparked led to the church defining itself further in. The marcionite bible was assembled by marcion of sinope, sometime in the earlymid second century. Of the gospels that were current among the churches, the only one that. Marcion was born in sinope in 85 ad in the northern province of pontus in what is now turkey right on the coast of the black sea. Marcion was a native of sinope modern sinop, turkey, in pontus, asia minor. Part of a library of materials dealing with gnosis and gnosticism, both ancient and modern. The development of the canon of the new testament marcion.
Marcion received only eleven books of the new testament, and these strangely curtailed and altered. The antimarcionite prologues the lost books of the bible. In any event, this will at least provide the reader a general idea of what marcion s work antithesis may have been like. The gospel of the alien god 9781556357039 by adolf harnack, john e. Pontius pilatus being the governor of judaea, jesus came down to capernaum, a city in galilee, and was. The question begins with a quotation from what i said, in contrast to something else i said, which seems to contradict it. It was divided into two parts, the gospel or evangelion and the epistles of paul or apostolicon. Heikki raisanen, marcion and the origins of christian antijudaism, temenos 33 1997. The written account of the life of jesus christ, preserved in its original greek by marcion, son of philologus, bishop of sinope. Mcgiffert 1924 this could account for the widely acceptance of marcion s nonjudaic gospel by the. Jesus christ underwent a remarkable evolution over 110 years, from 70ce to 180ce, beginning as a astrotheological cults esoteric, nonhuman warrior in the stars, and eventually transforming into an actual historical person, complete with a birth, life mission, martyrdom, and resurrection. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus a survey of marcion s life and legacy. Marcion is a reminder of the results in rejecting the authority and tradition of the church in favor of ones own presuppositions ending with an interpretation and even acceptance of scripture based on those presuppositions.
Marcion, the son of the bishop of sinope a seaport of pontus along the black sea who had become a wealthy shipowner, stood before the presbyters to expound his teachings in order to win others to his point of view. Aug 20, 2016 indeed he wrote down the gospel, while john was dictating carefully. Thus to say that marcion was faced with an authoritative canon of four gospels, selected from one of the four, excised large chunks of material from it, and elevated it to a level above the others, in full consciousness of having chosen a practice opposed to the worldwide church, is. Aug 05, 2016 marcion is a software forming a study environment of ancient languages esp. Throughout this article i use catholic to refer to the version of biblical texts used in mainstream nonmarcionite christian communities. Text and transmission from marcion to augustine, studies in judaism in late antiquity 121 1975. The issue of the relationship between luke and marcions gospel has been revived recently in several discussions of marcion and lukeacts. Developing some eccentric theological views, he eventually taught that the god of the old testament was not the true god but rather that the true and higher god had been revealed only with jesus c.
Is the god of the old testament the same as the god of the new. She examines marcion s gospel, apostolikon, and antitheses in detail and compares his principles with those of contemporary christian and nonchristian thinkers, covering a wide range of controversial issues. Jason david beduhn the myth of marcion as redactor. My position received little support after publication. The former contained only one of the four gospels, viz. Although his ideas were completely rejected by the apostolic fathers of the second. Admittedly contra the totality of scholarship in the field, its basic thesis is that the gospel of marcion was a theology, a teaching, good news euaggelion but never a text resembling the gospel of luke a sure impossibility, given marcions flagrantly nonlucan. Marcionism was an early christian dualist belief system that originated in the teachings of. Concerning the reconstruction of the first verse of the marcionite corpus paulinum, vigiliae christianae 42 1988.
Pdf chapter 1 marcion from the gospel according to heretics. To begin, perhaps we should start with a brief account of marcion. But the heretic marcion, after being condemned by him because he was teaching 2 the opposite to him john, was expelled by john. He made his way to rome sometime between 59 ad and was accepted as christian into the church there. The story of marcions sin is rejected by many modern scholars e. He explained the corruption on the basis of galatians in which paul emphasizes that there is only one gospel and states that false brethren are attempting to turn believers from this gospel. He divided them into two parts, calling the one the gospel, and the other the apostolicon. The archheretic marcions theology the bart ehrman blog. In fact, some in the early church bemoaned the spread of marcions teachings.
Ancient drawing of marcion a prominent leader of early orthodox christianity was tertullian. Tertullian does not mention any variant of marcions text in galatians. Tertullians treatment of paul in against marcion of 207 ad. The churchs scripture and functional marcionism daniel l. Interestingly, knox proposes that the heretical use of a gospel and the letters of paul forced the emerging institutional church to preserve paul almost intact. Marcions teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144. The marcionite bible was not divided into old and new testaments like the modern bible, and was dramatically shorter. O timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and contradictions antithesis of gnosis falsely so called. Gospel of marcion encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus.
After the death of peter himself, the same man wrote this gospel in the parts of italy. He also accuses marcion of removing large quantities of text from the gospel of luke and the epistles of paul, thus. Heikki raisanen, marcion, muhammed and the mahatma. There needed to be a distance between god and matter in marcions thinking, so the creator god of the old testament was not a true god or he was a lesser god. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by jesus christ, and god the father iai. Marcion is a software forming a study environment of ancient languages esp. Catholic encyclopedia 19marcionites wikisource, the. Tertullian in against marcion rebutted marcion by attacking paul.
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