Marcionism is the dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144.^[1] Marcion affirmed Jesus Christ as the savior sent by God and Paul as his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and Yahweh. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is currently under construction. ... Marcion of Sinope (ca. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Construction of the Antonine Wall is completed. ... 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum Hebrew Bible is a term that refers to the common portions of the Jewish canon and the Christian canons. ... For other uses, see Yahweh (disambiguation). ...

Marcionism was denounced by its opponents as heresy, and written against, notably by Tertullian, in a five-book treatise Adversus Marcionem, written about 208. However, the strictures against Marcionism predate the authority, claimed by the First Council of Nicaea in 325, to declare what is heretical against the Church. Marcion's writings are lost, though they were widely read and numerous manuscripts must have existed. Even so, many scholars (including Henry Wace) claim it is possible to reconstruct and deduce a large part of ancient Marcionism through what later critics, especially Tertullian, said concerning Marcion. For other uses, see Heresy (disambiguation). ... Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, (ca. ... The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day Iznik in Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first Ecumenical council[1] of the early Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. ... Events May 20 - First Council of Nicaea - first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church: The Nicene Creed is formulated, the date of Easter is discussed. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Church. ... Very Reverend Henry Wace (December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was the Dean of Canterbury from 1903, edited in and contributed to publications in Christian and Ecclesiastical history. ...

History

Main article: Marcion of Sinope

The movement known as Marcionism began with the teachings and excommunication of Marcion from the Church of Rome around 144. Marcion was reportedly a wealthy shipowner, the son of a bishop of Sinope of Pontus, Asia Minor. He arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after Bar Kokhba's revolt. That revolution, along with other Jewish-Roman wars (the Great Jewish Revolt and the Kitos War), provides some of the historical context of the founding of Marcionism. Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman Church because he was threatening to make schisms in the church.^[2] Marcion of Sinope (ca. ... Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to... Events Pope Pius I succeeded Pope Hyginus. ... Combatants Roman Empire Jews of Iudaea Commanders Hadrian Simon Bar Kokhba Strength  ?  ? Casualties Unknown 580,000 Jews (mass civilian casualties), 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed (per Cassius Dio). ... Jewish-Roman War can refer to several revolts by the Jews of Judea against the Roman Empire: The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the First Jewish Revolt. ... It has been proposed below that Great Jewish Revolt be renamed and moved to First Jewish-Roman War. ... Combatants Roman Empire Jews of Iudaea Commanders Lusius Quietus Lukuas or Andreas Casualties Roman & Greek deaths: 200,000 in Cyrene, 240,000 in Cyprus (per Cassius Dio). ...

Marcion used his personal wealth, (particularly a donation returned to him by the Church of Rome after he was excommunicated), to fund an ecclesiastical organization. Marcionism continued in the West for 300 years, although Marcionistic ideas persisted much longer.^[3] Occident redirects here. ...

The organization continued in the East for some centuries later, particularly outside the Byzantine Empire in areas which later would be dominated by Manichaeism. This is no accident: Mani is believed to have been a Mandaean, and Mandaeanism is related to Marcionism in several ways. For example, both Mandaeanism and Marcionism are characterized by a belief in a Demiurge. The Marcionite organization itself is today extinct, although Mandaeanism is not.^[4] The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of the East, namely Asia (including China, India, Japan, and surrounding regions). ... Byzantine redirects here. ... Manichean priests, writing at their desk, with panel inscription in Sogdian. ... Mani (in Persian: مانی, Syriac: ) was born of Iranian (Parthian) parentage in Babylon, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) which was a part of Persian Empire about 210-276 CE. He was a religious preacher and the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient Persian gnostic religion that was once prolific but is now extinct. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Mandaeism. ... The Demiurge, The Craftsman or Creator, in some belief systems, is the deity responsible for the creation of the physical universe. ...

Teachings

Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire Hebrew Bible, and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser demiurge, who had created the earth, but was (de facto) the source of evil. 11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum Hebrew Bible is a term that refers to the common portions of the Jewish canon and the Christian canons. ... The Demiurge, The Craftsman or Creator, in some belief systems, is the deity responsible for the creation of the physical universe. ...

The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the god of the Jewish religion. Focusing on the Pauline traditions of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel, and especially any association with the Old Testament religion, was opposed to, and a backsliding from, the truth. He further regarded the arguments of Paul regarding law and gospel, wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, death and life, as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is only love and mercy.^[5] Marcion gathered scriptures from Jewish tradition, and juxtaposed these against the sayings and teachings from Gospel of Luke and the Pauline Epistles (but not the Pastoral Epistles or the Epistle to the Hebrews, and adding a Marcionite epistle to the Laodiceans)^[6]in a work entitled the Antithesis.^[7] Marcion's version of Luke did not resemble the version that is now regarded as canonical.^[8] It not only lacked all prophecies of Christ's coming but the differences with the now canonical version had other serious theological implications as well. In bringing together these texts, Marcion redacted what is perhaps the first New Testament canon on record, which he called the Apostolikon, which reflects his belief the writings reflect the apostle Paul and Jesus. This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ... Pauline Christianity is an expression which has been used, by those critical of Catholic, Orthodox and traditonal Protestant Christianity, to describe what is regarded as a distortion of the original teachings of Jesus due to the influence of Paul of Tarsus (otherwise St. ... The relationship between Gods Law and the Gospel is a major topic in Lutheran and Reformed theology. ... Many religions and spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or series of spoken legends not traditionally written down) to be sacred. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The three pastoral epistles are books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy) the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy), and the Epistle to Titus. ... The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Epistle to the Laodiceans An Epistle to the Laodiceans, consisting of 20 short lines, is found in some editions of the Vulgate, known only in Latin, purporting to be the epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans mentioned in the Epistle to the... The Gospel of Marcion or the Gospel of the Lord was a text used by the mid-second century anti-Christian teacher Marcion to the exclusion of the other gospels. ... A biblical canon is a list of Biblical books which establishes the set of books which are considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular Jewish or Christian community. ...

Marcionites hold maltheistic views of the god of the Hebrew Bible (mockingly known to them as Yaltabaoth), that he was inconsistent, jealous, wrathful and genocidal, and that the material world he created is defective, a place of suffering; the god who made such a world is a bungling or malicious demiurge. "In the god of the [Old Testament] he saw a being whose character was stern justice, and therefore anger, contentiousness and unmercifulness. The law which rules nature and man appeared to him to accord with the characteristics of this god and the kind of law revealed by him, and therefore it seemed credible to him that this god is the creator and lord of the world (κοσμοκράτωρ). As the law which governs the world is inflexible and yet, on the other hand, full of contradictions, just and again brutal, and as the law of the Old Testament exhibits the same features, so the god of creation was to Marcion a being who united in himself the whole gradations of attributes from justice to malevolence, from obstinacy to inconsistency."^[9] In Marcionite belief, Christ is not a Jewish Messiah, but a spiritual entity that was sent by the Monad to reveal the truth about existence, and thus allowing humanity to escape the earthly trap of the demiurge. Marcion called God, the Stranger God, or the Alien God, in some translations, as this deity had not had any previous interactions with the world, and was wholly unknown. Eutheism and dystheism are dialectic opposites within the spectrum of theistic religious beliefs. ... The term Demiurge (or Yaldabaoth, Yao, Bythos and several other variants, such as Ptahil used in Mandaeanism) refers in some belief systems to a deity responsible for the creation of the physical universe and the physical aspect of humanity. ... The Demiurge, The Craftsman or Creator, in some belief systems, is the deity responsible for the creation of the physical universe. ... This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ... In Judaism and Jewish eschatology, the Messiah (Hebrew: משיח; Mashiah, Mashiach, or Moshiach, anointed [one]) is a term traditionally referring to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line who will be anointed (the meaning of the Hebrew word משיח) with holy anointing oil and inducted to rule the Jewish people during... Within certain variations of Gnosticism, especially those inspired by Monoimus, the Monad was the highest God which created lesser gods, or elements (similar to aeons). ...

Marcionism is not identical to, but is related to, the various beliefs together called Gnosticism. In various sources, Marcion is often reckoned among the Gnostics, but as the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.) puts it, "it is clear that he would have had little sympathy with their mythological speculations" (p. 1034). In 1911 Henry Wace stated: "A modern divine would turn away from the dreams of Valentinianism in silent contempt; but he could not refuse to discuss the question raised by Marcion, whether there is such opposition between different parts of what he regards as the word of God, that all cannot come from the same author." A primary difference between Marcionites and Gnostics was that the Gnostics based their theology on secret wisdom (as, for example, Valentinius found in the Letters of Paul) of which they claimed to be in possession, whereas Marcion based his theology on the contents of the Letters of Paul and the recorded sayings of Jesus — in other words, an argument from scripture, with Marcion defining what was and was not scripture. The Christology of the Marcionites was primarily Docetic, denying the human nature of Christ. Scholars of early Christianity disagree on whether to classify Marcion as a Gnostic: Adolf Von Harnack does not classify Marcion as a Gnostic, whereas G. R. S. Mead does.^[10] Von Harnack argued that Marcion was not a Gnostic in the strict sense because Marcion rejected elaborate creation myths, and did not claim to have special revelation or secret knowledge. Mead claimed Marcionism makes certain points of contact with Gnosticism in its view that the creator of the material world is not the true deity, rejection of materialism and affirmation of a transcedent, purely good spiritual realm in opposition to the evil physical realm, the belief Jesus was sent by the "True" God to save humanity, the central role of Jesus in revealing the requirements of salvation, the belief Paul had a special place in the transmission of this "wisdom", and its docetism. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article on Marcion: "It was no mere school for the learned, disclosed no mysteries for the privileged, but sought to lay the foundation of the Christian community on the pure gospel, the authentic institutes of Christ. The pure gospel, however, Marcion found to be everywhere more or less corrupted and mutilated in the Christian circles of his time. His undertaking thus resolved itself into a reformation of Christendom. This reformation was to deliver Christendom from false Jewish doctrines by restoring the Pauline conception of the gospel, Paul being, according to Marcion, the only apostle who had rightly understood the new message of salvation as delivered by Christ. In Marcion's own view, therefore, the founding of his church—to which he was first driven by opposition—amounts to a reformation of Christendom through a return to the gospel of Christ and to Paul; nothing was to be accepted beyond that. This of itself shows that it is a mistake to reckon Marcion among the Gnostics. A dualist he certainly was, but he was not a Gnostic." This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Very Reverend Henry Wace (December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was the Dean of Canterbury from 1903, edited in and contributed to publications in Christian and Ecclesiastical history. ... -Quevedo Valentinius, also called Valentinus (c. ... -Quevedo Valentinius, also called Valentinus (c. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christology is a field of study... In Christianity, Docetism (from the Greek [dokeō], to seem) is the belief that Jesus physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not... The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... Gospel, from the Old English good tidings is a calque of Greek () used in the New Testament (see Etymology below). ... This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ... This T-and-O map, which abstracts the known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography. ... Judaizers is a pejorative term used by Pauline Christianity, particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Jesus needed to keep the Law of Moses. ... Pauline Christianity is an expression which has been used, by those critical of Catholic, Orthodox and traditonal Protestant Christianity, to describe what is regarded as a distortion of the original teachings of Jesus due to the influence of Paul of Tarsus (otherwise St. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      For... For other uses, see Salvation (disambiguation). ... Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. General characteristics The word gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνῶσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden mysticism (esoteric knowledge... The term dualism is the state of being dual, or having a twofold division. ...

Marcionism shows the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on Christianity, and presents a moral critique of the Old Testament from the standpoint of Platonism. According to Harnack, the sect may have led other Christians to introduce a formal statement of beliefs into their liturgy (see Creed) and to formulate a canon of authoritative Scripture of their own, thus eventually producing the current canon of the New Testament. "As for the main question, however, whether he knew of, or assumes the existence of, a written New Testament of the Church in any sense whatever, in this case an affirmatory answer is most improbable, because if this were so he would have been compelled to make a direct attack upon the New Testament of the Church, and if such an attack had been made we should have heard of it from Tertullian. Marcion, on the contrary, treats the Catholic Church as one that 'follows the Testament of the Creator-God,' and directs the full force of his attack against this Testament and against the falsification of the Gospel and of the Pauline Epistles. His polemic would necessarily have been much less simple if he had been opposed to a Church which, by possessing a New Testament side by side with the Old Testament, had ipso facto placed the latter under the shelter of the former. In fact Marcion’s position towards the Catholic Church is intelligible, in the full force of its simplicity, only under the supposition that the Church had not yet in her hand any 'litera scripta Novi Testamenti.'"^[11] The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Platonic idealism is the theory that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher truth. ... For other uses, see Creed (disambiguation). ... Many religions and spiritual movements believe that their sacred texts (or scriptures) are the Word of God, often feeling that the texts are wholly divine or spiritually inspired in origin. ...

Recent scholarship

In Lost Christianities, Bart Ehrman contrasts the Marcionites with the Ebionites as polar ends of a spectrum with regard to the Old Testament.^[12] Ehrman acknowledges many of Marcion's ideas are very close to what is known today as "Gnosticism", especially its rejection of the Jewish God, the Old Testament, and the material world, and his elevation of Paul as the primary apostle. In the PBS documentary, From Jesus to Christ, narrated by Elaine Pagels, Ehrman, Karen King, and other secular New Testament scholars, Marcion's role in the formation of the New Testament canon is discussed as pivotal, and the first to explicitly state it. There were early Christian groups, such as the Ebionites, that did not accept Paul as part of their canon. Bart D. Ehrman is a New Testament Scholar and an expert on Early Christianity. ... The Ebionites (Greek: Ebionaioi from Hebrew; , , the Poor Ones) were an early Jewish Christian sect that lived in and around the land of Israel in the 1st to the 5th century CE.[1] Without authenticated archaeological evidence for the existence of the Ebionites, their views and practices can only be... Elaine Pagels, née Hiesey, (born February 13, 1943), is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. ... Karen Leigh King (born 1954) is an American academic working in the field of early Christianity and Gnosticism. ... A biblical canon is a list of Biblical books which establishes the set of books which are considered to be authoritative as scripture by a particular Jewish or Christian community. ...

Robert M. Price, an atheist New Testament scholar, considers the Pauline canon problem^[13]: how, when, and who collected Paul's epistles to the various churches as a single collection of epistles. The evidence that the early church fathers, such as Clement, knew of the Pauline epistles is unclear. Price investigates several historical scenarios and comes to the conclusion and identifies Marcion as the first person known in recorded history to collect Paul's writings to various churches together as a canon, the Pauline epistles. Robert Price summarizes, "But the first collector of the Pauline Epistles had been Marcion. No one else we know of would be a good candidate, certainly not the essentially fictive Luke, Timothy, and Onesimus. And Marcion, as Burkitt and Bauer show, fills the bill perfectly."^[14] If this is correct, then Marcion's role in the formation and development of Christianity is pivotal.

Criticisms

It has been suggested that some of the information in this article's "Criticism" or "Controversy" section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more neutral presentation. (Discuss)

According to a remark by Origen (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 15.3), Marcion "prohibited allegorical interpretations of the scripture". Tertullian disputed this in his treatise against Marcion, as did Henry Wace: Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Origen Origen (Greek: Ōrigénēs, 185–ca. ... Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, (ca. ... Very Reverend Henry Wace (December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was the Dean of Canterbury from 1903, edited in and contributed to publications in Christian and Ecclesiastical history. ...

The story proceeds to say that he asked the Roman presbyters to explain the texts, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," and "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment," texts from which he himself deduced that works in which evil is to be found could not proceed from the good God, and that the Christian dispensation could have nothing in common with the Jewish. Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church.^[15]

Tertullian, along with Epiphanius of Salamis, also charged that Marcion set aside the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and used Luke alone^[16]. Tertullian cited Luke 6:43-45 (a good tree does not produce bad fruit)^[17] and Luke 5:36-38 (nobody tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment or puts new wine in old wineskins)^[18], in theorizing that Marcion set about to recover the authentic teachings of Jesus. Irenaeus claimed, "[Marcion's] salvation will be the attainment only of those souls which had learned his doctrine; while the body, as having been taken from the earth, is incapable of sharing in salvation."^[19] Tertullian also attacked this view in De Carne Christi. Epiphanius (ca 310–20 – 403) was a Church Father, a heresiologist who was a strong defender of orthodoxy, known for tracking down deviant teachings (heresies) wherever they could be traced, during the troubled era in the Christian Church following the Council of Nicaea. ... The Gospel of Luke (literally, according to Luke; Greek, Κατά Λουκαν, Kata Loukan) is a synoptic Gospel, and the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. ... Irenaeus (Greek: Εἰρηναῖος), (b. ... A polemical work against the Gnostic docetism of Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus and Alexander. ...

Hippolytus reported that Marcion's phantasmal (and Docetist) Christ was "revealed as a man, though not a man", and did not really die on the cross.^[20] However, Ernest Evans, in editing this work, observes: Statue of Hippolytus, 3rd century. ...

This may not have been Marcion's own belief. It was certainly that of Hermogenes (cf. Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem) and probably other gnostics and Marcionites, who held that the intractability of this matter explains the world's many imperfections.

Because of the rejection of the Old Testament which originates in the Jewish Bible, the Marcionites are believed by some Christians to be anti-Semitic. Indeed, the word Marcionism is sometimes used in modern times to refer to anti-Jewish tendencies in Christian churches, especially when such tendencies are thought to be surviving residues of ancient Marcionism. For example, on its web site, the Tawahedo Church of Ethiopia claims to be the only Christian church that is fully free of Marcionism. On the other hand, Marcion did not claim Christians to be the New Israel of Supersessionism, and did not try to use the Hebrew scriptures to support his views. Marcion himself does not appear to be anti-Semitic, rather he rejected Jewish scriptures as irrelevant. 11th century Targum Tanakh [תנ״ך] (also spelt Tanach or Tenach) is an acronym for the three parts of the Hebrew Bible, based upon the initial Hebrew letters of each part: Torah [תורה] (The Law; also: Teaching or Instruction), Chumash [חומש] (The... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Church until it was granted its own Patriarch by Cyril VI, the Coptic Pope, in 1959. ... Supersessionism (sometimes referred to as replacement theology by its critics) is a belief that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Old Testament, and that Jews who deny that Jesus is the Messiah are not being faithful to the revelation that God has given them, and they therefore fall...

The Prologues to the Pauline Epistles (which are not a part of the text, but short introductory sentences as one might find in modern study Bibles [2]), found in several older Latin codices, are now widely believed to have been written by Marcion or one of his followers. Harnack notes [3]: "We have indeed long known that Marcionite readings found their way into the ecclesiastical text of the Pauline Epistles, but now for seven years we have known that Churches actually accepted the Marcionite prefaces to the Pauline Epistles! De Bruyne has made one of the finest discoveries of later days in proving that those prefaces, which we read first in Codex Fuldensis and then in numbers of later manuscripts, are Marcionite, and that the Churches had not noticed the cloven hoof.". Conversely, several early Latin codices contain Anti-Marcionite prologues to the Gospels. First page of the Codex Argenteus A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a handwritten book, in general, one produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. ... The Codex Fuldensis is a manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. ...

Marcion is believed to have imposed a severe morality on his followers, some of whom suffered in the persecutions. In particular, he refused to re-admit those who recanted their faith under Roman persecution. Others of his followers, such as Apelles, created their own sects with variant teachings. Little is known about Apelles. ...

Modern Marcionism

Historic Marcionism, and the church Marcion himself established, appeared to die out around the fifth century. However, Marcion's influence and criticism of the Old Testament are discussed to this very day. Marcionism is discussed in recent textbooks on early Christianity, such as Lost Christianities by Bart Ehrman. Marcion claimed to find problems in the Old Testament; problems which many modern thinkers cite today (see Criticism of the Bible and Old Testament#Christian view of the Law), especially its alleged approval of atrocities and genocide. Many atheists, agnostics, and secular humanists agree with Marcion's examples of Bible atrocities, and cite the same passages of the Old Testament to discredit Christianity and Judaism. ^[21] Most Christians agree with Marcion that the Old Testament's alleged approval of genocide and murder are inappropriate models to follow today. Some Christian scholars, such as Gleason Archer and Norman Geisler, have dedicated much of their time to the attempt to resolve these perceived difficulties, while others have argued that just punishments (divine or human), even capital punishments, are not genocide or murder because murder and genocide are unjustified by definition (see Christian Reconstructionism). when thousands of people call a person as thief, he becomes thief. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Note: Judaism... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Agnosticism is the philosophical and theological view that the existence of God, gods or deities is either unknown or inherently unknowable. ... Secular humanism is a philosophy that holds a naturalistic worldview and advocates the use of reason, compassion, scientific inquiry, ethics, justice and equality. ... Gleason Leonard Archer (May 22, 1916 – April 27, 2004) was a Biblical scholar, theologian, educator, and author. ... Dr. Norman L. Geisler is a scholar, contributor to the field of Christian apologetics, and the author or coauthor of some sixty books defending the Christian faith. ... Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Protestant Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all areas of life. ...

For some, the alleged problems of the Old Testament, and the appeal of Jesus are such that they identify themselves as modern day Marcionites, and follow his solution in keeping the New Testament as sacred scripture, and rejecting the Old Testament canon and practices. Carroll R. Bierbower is a pastor of a church he says is Marcionite in theology and practice.^[22] The Cathar movement, historically and in modern times, reject the Old Testament for the reasons Marcion enunciated. It remains unclear whether the 11th century Cathar movement is in continuation of earlier Gnostic and Marcion streams, or represents an independent re-invention. John Lindell, a former Methodist and Unitarian Universalist pastor, advocates Christian deism, which does not include the Old Testament as part of its theology. ^[23] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Catharism. ... For other uses, see Ceremonial Deism. ...

Recently, biblical scholar Amy Jill-Levine identified Marcion thought in liberation theology, and present in the World Council of Churches in her book, "The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus". As a self-identified orthodox Jew, she regards Marcionism to be an anti-semitic heresy that is alive and present in Christianity today, and a serious obstacle towards a greater Christian-Jewish understanding. In Christianity, liberation theology is a school of theology that focuses on Jesus Christ as not only the Redeemer but also the Liberator of the oppressed. ... The World Council of Churches (WCC) is an international Christian ecumenical organization. ...

See also

• Christology
• Antinomianism
• Montanism
• Gnosticism
• Antitactae

Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Christology is a field of study... Antinomianism (from the Greek αντι, against + νομος, law), or lawlessness (in the Greek Bible: ανομια,[1] which is unlawful), in theology, is the idea that members of a particular religious group are under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality as presented by religious authorities. ... Montanism was an early Christian sectarian movement of the mid-2nd century A.D., named after its founder Montanus. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Antitactæ, or antitactici, in antiquity, were a sect of gnostics who believe that God was good and just, but that one of his creatures had created evil, and had engaged humans to follow it, in order to set us in opposition to God. ...

Notes

1. ^ (115 years and 6 months from the Crucifixion, according to Tertullian's reckoning in Adversus Marcionem, xv)
2. ^ Mead 1931, pp.241-249
3. ^ Berdyaev Online Library
4. ^ Mandaean Official Site
5. ^ Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. 1, ch. 5, p. 269
6. ^ Mead 1931.
7. ^ Gnostic Society Library presentation of Marcion's Antithesis
8. ^ Center for Marcionite Research presentation of The Gospel of Marcion
9. ^ Harnack, idem., p.271
10. ^ Article on Adolf Von Harnack
11. ^ Harnack, Origin of the New Testament, appendix 6, pp. 222-23
12. ^ Interview with Bart Ehrman about Lost Christianities
13. ^ The Evolution of the Pauline Canon by Robert Price
14. ^ Price
15. ^ Wace's article on Marcion
16. ^ From the perspectives of Tertullian and Epiphanius (when the four gospels had largely canonical status, perhaps in reaction to the challenge created by Marcion), it appeared that Marcion rejected the non-Lukan gospels, however, in Marcion's time, it may be that the only gospel he was familiar with from Pontus was the gospel that would later be called Luke. It is also possible that Marcion's gospel was actually modified by his critics to became the gospel we know today as Luke, rather than the story from his critics that he changed a canonical gospel to get his version. For example, compare Luke 5:39 to 5:36-38, did Marcion delete 5:39 from his Gospel or was it added later to counteract a Marcionist interpretation of 5:36-38? One must keep in mind that we only know of Marcion through his critics and they considered him a major threat to the form of Christianity that they knew. John Knox (the modern writer, not to be confused with John Knox the Protestant Reformer) in Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon (ISBN 0-404-16183-9) was the first to propose that Marcion's Gospel may have preceded Luke's Gospel and Acts.[1]
17. ^ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 1.2
18. ^ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 4.11.9
19. ^ Against Heresies, 1.27.3
20. ^ Tertullian Adversus Marcionem ("Against Marcion"), translated and edited by Ernest Evans
21. ^ Biblical Atrocities, compiled by Donald Morgan
22. ^ The Antithesis, by Dr. Carroll R. Bierbower.
23. ^ The Human Jesus and Christian Deism

For other uses, see Crucifixion (disambiguation). ... Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, (ca. ... Adolf von Harnack, German theologian Adolf von Harnack (May 7, 1851 - June 10, 1930), was a German theologian and science administrator. ... For other persons named John Knox, see John Knox (disambiguation). ... On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis, commonly called Against Heresies (Latin: Adversus haereses), is a five volume work written by St. ...

References

• Baker, David L., Two Testaments, One Bible (second edn; Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1991): pp. 35, 48-52.
• Legge, Francis, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, From 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. (1914), reprinted in two volumes bound as one, University Books New York, 1964. LC Catalog 64-24125.

• McGowan, Andrew, Associate Professor of Early Christian History at the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MassachusettsJournal of Early Christian Studies, Vol. 9
• Mead, G.R.S., Gospel of Marcion Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, London and Benares, 1900; 3rd Edition 1931.
• Price, Robert M. The Evolution of the Pauline Canon.

External links

• The Center for Marcionite Research