The majority of scholars agree the gospel was an edited version of the gospel of luke. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus. After the production of lukeacts in response to marcions canon, it was seen by certain persons that a definitive response was needed and so. This biographical introduction to marcion is taken from g. The bible and interpretation marcion and the idea of heresy. 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. Its reconstructed fragments now appear among the new testament apocrypha. Greekenglish interlinear with full set of reconstruction notes pdf. The name derives from marcion of asia minor who, sometime after his arrival in rome, fell under the influence of cerdo, a gnostic christian, whose stormy relations with the church of rome were the consequence of his belief that the god of the old testament could be distinguished from the god of the new testament. Many of the arguments of simon magus in rebuttal to peter in recognitions of clement trans. Marcion of sinope edinburgh research explorer the university. Marcion author of the new testament deuteronomy 28.
Mead, fragments of a faith forgotten london and benares, 1900. The question begins with a quotation from what i said, in contrast to something else i. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. Imposing latesecondcentury mores on an earlysecondcentury figure leads to great misunderstanding. Aug 20, 2016 indeed he wrote down the gospel, while john was dictating carefully. The antimarcionite prologues the lost books of the bible. Marcion was critical in the emergence of the catholic church. Apparently, he was a native of pontus in modern times, the area by the black sea, who flourished in the middle of the second century, dying circa 160. Luke, and this mutilated and altered, and even interpolated in a great variety of places. The former contained only one of the four gospels, viz.
My position received little support after publication. With regard, then, to the pending9 question, of lukes gospel so far as its being the common property10 of ourselves and marcion enables it to be decisive of the truth,11 that portion of it which we alone receive12 is so much older than marcion, that marcion, himself once believed it, when in the first warmth of faith he contributed. The reception of the canon by the modern church is inhibited, it. Marcion had bought into platos idea that matter is bad, and so, the god of the old testament, the god who created the world, was not a god that he could stomach. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus a survey of marcion s life and legacy. Marcion was a rich shipowner of sinope, the chief port of pontus, on the southern shore of the black sea.
The marcionite bible was assembled by marcion of sinope, sometime in the early mid. He divided them into two parts, calling the one the gospel, and the other the apostolicon. Content management system cms task management project portfolio management time tracking pdf. 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. The development of the canon of the new testament marcion. Whatever in times past2321 we have wrought in opposition to marcion, is from. Marcion is or, rather, was a somewhat shadowy figure, with most of what we know about him coming from the hostile pen of tertullian. The marcionite bible was not divided into old and new testaments like the modern bible, and was dramatically shorter. Concerning the reconstruction of the first verse of the marcionite corpus paulinum, vigiliae christianae 42 1988. The gospel of marcion kindle edition by rasilbach, marc. Marcions church was rigorous, demanding, inspiring, wellorganized, and for about a century fairly successful.
Here you will find a wide range of articles and resources on these subjects, and links to relevant articles and books elsewhere on the internet. Marcion said the twelve taught a gospel of law where disobedience caused loss of salvation, especially found in matthews gospel. Marcion is free software released under the gnu gpl references. This was marcions gospel, although tertullian did not believe it was an original work of marcion, only an edited version on an existing gospel.
From the little i have read of tertullians against marcion, it seems that marcion was tackling and ultimately being swayed by the ageold problem of evil. Marcion and getting unhitched from the old testament. The gnostic affinity or group identity was a secret bond that. If output of ldconfig p not contains important qt libraries for example if qt is installed in opt, edit etcld. Marcions theological errors and there were many came from one main root. Marcion was a rich shipowner of sinope, the chief port of pontus, on the southern shore of the black. As a result, he rejected the writings attributed to all the other apostles and relied on. The question begins with a quotation from what i said, in contrast to something else i said, which seems to contradict it. The sect which he founded spread widely, and was for a time a serious menace to the church. After the death of peter himself, the same man wrote this gospel in the parts of italy. 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. 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. The marcionite research library welcome to the marcionite research library.
The churchs scripture and functional marcionism daniel l. Specific text in marcions gospel the g is used to make it possible to distinguish marcions gospel from his versions of the pauline epistles, e. Here is a question that has been raised about one of my posts. Marcionism was an early christian dualist belief system that originated in the teachings of marcion of sinope in rome around the year 144 marcion was the son of a bishop of sinope in pontus. 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. Kruger as a piece of malicious gossip of which they say epiphanius was fond. The only books to survive the cut in marcions bible were a mutilated version of the gospel of luke and ten of pauls epistles. Gilles quispel, marcion and the text of the new testament, vigiliae christianae 52. Irenaeus describes the day in which marcion was rejected by the church in rome in adversus haereses 3. In this revised edition of luke, marcion does not begin the story of jesus in. Tertullian states that marcion was that shipmaster of pontus adv. Tertullian and clement of alexandria also wrote about marcion. Tertullian in against marcion rebutted marcion by attacking paul. With this new bible completely free from law, marcions version of the gospel emphasized spirituality, faith, and grace.
Marcion article about marcion by the free dictionary. Marcion received only eleven books of the new testament, and these strangely curtailed and altered. 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. Namely, marcion seemed to be trying to solve the problem of why a supposedly benevolent creator god would willing create evil and allow it to exist. Rufinus 400 ad sound just like the words of marcion in favor of faith alone acknowledge the good god and live free versus obedience required by the creator god. Heikki raisanen, marcion and the origins of christian antijudaism, temenos 33 1997. About the middle of the second century 140155 he traveled to rome, where he joined the syrian gnostic cerdo marcion believed that jesus was the savior sent by god, and paul the apostle was his. Please buy the cd to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff. 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. The marcionite bible the marcionite bible was assembled by marcion of sinope, sometime in the earlymid second century. At a couple of points, he seems to suggest that it could even have been something very similar to the gospel of mark that marcion used. Marcion is free software released under the gnu gpl. Paul, with his focus on free grace, was by far marcions favorite apostle.
Coptic, greek, latin and providing many tools and resources dictionaties, grammars, texts. The study environment of ancient languages coptic, greek, latin marcion is a software forming a study environment of ancient languages esp. 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. Mar 15, 2017 marcion had bought into platos idea that matter is bad, and so, the god of the old testament, the god who created the world, was not a god that he could stomach. Text and transmission from marcion to augustine, studies in judaism in late antiquity 121 1975. Strongly antijewish, he distinguished the merely just god of the ot from the loving god and. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus a survey of marcions life and legacy. Marcionite, any member of a gnostic sect that flourished in the 2nd century ad. Contains many coptic texts, grammars, greek texts, liddellscott greekenglish lexicon, and others. But the heretic marcion, after being condemned by him because he was teaching 2 the opposite to him john, was expelled by john. This is free software, and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the gpl v2 license. Pdf chapter 1 marcion from the gospel according to heretics. He considered himself a follower of paul the apostle, who he believed to have been the only true apostle of. Catholic encyclopedia 19marcionites wikisource, the.
Even several new testament books were not safe from marcions canonical knife. 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. Jason david beduhn the myth of marcion as redactor. 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. God and scripture in the second century lieu, judith m. The marcionite version of the epistles of paul was also significantly shorter than the. 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.
Among these is the fact that polycarp does not bother to name his enemy, and we still do not have the necessary irrefutable evidence to do it for him. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Ancient drawing of marcion a prominent leader of early orthodox christianity was tertullian. Marcion of sinope was an important figure in early christianity. Go to the chronological list of all early christian writings.
I find, then, that man was by god constituted free, master of his own will and. Heikki raisanen, marcion, muhammed and the mahatma. Thou whom i have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, thou art my servant. The most barbarous and melancholy thing about pontus dismal as the region is of itself is that marcion was born there. 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.
Marcions use of the christian canon brings him closer to the scriptureoriented christianity of the great councils than it does to the mythoriented gnostics. Marcion preached that the god who sent jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of judaism. Marcion s teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144. O timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and contradictions antithesis of gnosis falsely so called. But he marcion had brought writings or letters to him john from the brothers which were in pontus. Apr 21, 20 the story of marcions sin is rejected by many modern scholars e. Marcions pioneering role in establishing the earliest christian. Antithesis contradictions between the old testament deity and the new testament god. The story of marcions sin is rejected by many modern scholars e. Gospel of marcion encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. A native of sinope in pontus, marcion came to rome c. A note those who identify marcion as the false teacher against whom polycarp writes in his letter to the philippians continue to face difficult problems. Marcions teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144. But the good god bestows salvation if he is only acknowledged.