Citizendia

Marcionism is the dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144. Dualism denotes a state of two parts The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". Marcion (Μαρκίων (ca 110 - 160) was a Christian Theologian who was excommunicated by the Early Christian church Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 [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. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic For information about Yahweh see God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links Marcionists believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament. This belief was in some ways similar to Gnostic Christian theology, but in other ways quite different and unique. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems

Marcionism was denounced by its opponents as heresy, and written against, notably by Tertullian, in a five-book treatise Adversus Marcionem, written about 208. Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief especially a religion that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca 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. The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day İznik in Turkey) convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine Events By Place Roman Empire Gladiatorial combat is outlawed in the Roman Empire 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. The Very Reverend Henry Wace ( December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was Principal of King's College London and Dean

Contents

History

Main article: Marcion of Sinope

According to Tertullian and other writers of the mainstream Church, the movement known as Marcionism began with the teachings and excommunication of Marcion from the Church of Rome around 144. Marcion (Μαρκίων (ca 110 - 160) was a Christian Theologian who was excommunicated by the Early Christian church Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca Excommunication is a religious Censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community Marcion was reportedly a wealthy shipowner, the son of a bishop of Sinope of Pontus, Asia Minor. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black He arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after Bar Kokhba's revolt. Background After the failed Great Jewish Revolt in the year 70 the Roman authorities took measures to suppress the rebellious province 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. The Kitos War ( 115 — 117) (מרד הגלויות mered ha'galoyot or mered ha'tfutzot (מרד התפוצות translation Rebellion of the Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman Church because he was threatening to make schisms in the church. [2]

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. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings [3]

The organization continued in the East for some centuries later, particularly outside the Byzantine Empire in areas which later would be dominated by Manichaeism. The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various Cultures social structures and philosophical systems of " the East " Manichaeism (in Modern Persian fa-Arab آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese zh 摩尼教 was one of the major Gnostic Religions originating This is no accident: Mani is believed to have been a Mandaean, and Mandaeanism is related to Marcionism in several ways. Mani (in Persian: مانی Syriac: syr-Syrc ܡܐܢܝ (c 210–276 AD was the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient Gnostic Religion Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly For example, both Mandaeanism and Marcionism are characterized by a belief in a Demiurge. Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos The Marcionite organization itself is today extinct, although Mandaeanism is not. [4]

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. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos

The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the actions of Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. For information about Yahweh see God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. Tertullian claimed Marcion was the first to separate the New Testament from the Old Testament[5]. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca 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. Pauline Christianity is a term used to refer to a branch of Early Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul the Apostle through 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. The relationship between God's Law and the Gospel is a major topic in Lutheran and Reformed theology 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. [6] Marcion is said to have gathered scriptures from Jewish tradition, and juxtaposed these against the sayings and teachings of Jesus in a work entitled the Antithesis. [7] Besides the Antithesis, the Testament of the Marcionites was also composed of a Gospel of Christ which was Marcion's version of Luke, and that the Marcionites attributed to Paul, that was different in a number of ways from the version that is now regarded as canonical. The Gospel of Marcion or the Gospel of the Lord was a text used by the mid-second century Christian teacher Marcion to the exclusion of the other gospels [8] It seems to have lacked all prophecies of Christ's coming, as well as the Infancy acount, the baptism, and the verses were more terse in general. It also included ten of the Pauline Epistles (but not the Pastoral Epistles or the Epistle to the Hebrews, and, according to the Muratonian canon, included a Marcionite Paul's epistle to the Alexandrians and an epistle to the Laodiceans)[9] In bringing together these texts, Marcion redacted what is perhaps the first New Testament canon on record, which he called the Gospel and the Apostolikon, which reflects his belief the writings reflect the apostle Paul and Jesus. The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul (Παῦλος as the first The three pastoral epistles are books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy ( 1 Timothy) the The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr Heb for Citations is one of the books in the New Testament. Nothing is known for certain of a pseudepigraphical Epistle to the Alexandrians — purportedly by Paul — that is mentioned in the Muratorian fragment, An Epistle to the Laodiceans, purportedly written by Paul of Tarsus to the Laodicean Church, is mentioned in the canonical Epistle to the Colossians The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible.

Marcionites hold maltheistic views of the god of the Hebrew Bible (known to some Gnostics 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. Misotheism is the "hatred of God " or "hatred of the Gods " (from the Greek adjective μισόθεος "hating the gods" a compound of Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos "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. "[10] 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. Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed " Messiah ( משיח; mashiah, moshiah, mashiach, or moshiach, ("anointed " is a term used in the Hebrew Bible In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies) God is known as the Monad, the One, The Absolute Aion teleos (The 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.

Related systems

In various popular sources, Marcion is often reckoned among the Gnostics, but as the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems ) 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. The Very Reverend Henry Wace ( December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was Principal of King's College London and Dean Valentinus (also spelled Valentius) ( c 100 - c160 CE) was the best known and for a time most successful Early Christian gnostic " A primary difference between Marcionites and Gnostics was that the Gnostics based their theology on secret wisdom (as, for example, Valentinius who claimed to receive the secret wisdom from Theudas who received it direct from 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. Valentinus (also spelled Valentius) ( c 100 - c160 CE) was the best known and for a time most successful Early Christian gnostic Theudas was allegedly the name of a Christian Gnostic thinker who was a follower of Paul of Tarsus. Also, the Christology of the Marcionites is thought to have been primarily Docetic, denying the human nature of Christ. Christology (from Christ and Greek grc -λογία -logia) is a field of study within Christian theology which is concerned with In Christianity, Docetism (from the Greek, "to seem" is the belief that Jesus ' physical body was an illusion as was his Crucifixion This may have been due to the unwillingness of Marcionites to believe that Jesus was the son of both God the Father and the demiurge. Classical Gnosticism, by contrast, held that Jesus was the son of both, even having a natural human father; that he was both the Messiah of Judaism and the world Savior. Scholars of Early Christianity disagree on whether to classify Marcion as a Gnostic: Adolf Von Harnack does not classify Marcion as a Gnostic[11], whereas G. R. S. Mead does. Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus ( c Adolf von Harnack ( May 7, 1851 &ndash June 10, 1930) was a German theologian and prominent church historian George Robert Stowe Mead (1863–1933 was an author editor translator esotericist and an influential member of the Theosophical Society. 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 Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc This article is about the canonical books of the New Testament Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed " 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. Christendom usually refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon 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. Judaizers, see also WiktionaryJudaization, generally describes those who inculcate to Christians the adherence to Torah Laws, which is normally considered Pauline Christianity is a term used to refer to a branch of Early Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul the Apostle through The Twelve Apostles (Greek apostolos, "someone sent out" e In Theology, salvation can mean three related things being saved from or Liberation from something such as Suffering or the punishment of 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. Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems A dualist he certainly was, but he was not a Gnostic. Dualism denotes a state of two parts The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". ”

Marcionism shows the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on Christianity, and presents a moral critique of the Old Testament from the standpoint of Platonism. This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period. Platonism is the Philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it 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. A creed is a statement of Belief — usually Religious belief — or Faith often recited as part of a religious service "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. '"[12]

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. Bart D Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar and textual critic of Early Christianity. The Ebionites ( Greek: grc Ἐβιωναῖοι Ebionaioi from Hebrew; he '''אביונים''' he-Latn ''Ebyonim'' "the Poor Ones" were an [13] 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. 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. The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible. There were early Christian groups, such as the Ebionites, that did not accept Paul as part of their canon.

Robert M. Price, a New Testament scholar at Drew University, considers the Pauline canon problem[14]: 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. "[15] If this is correct, then Marcion's role in the formation and development of Christianity is pivotal.

Criticisms

According to a remark by Origen (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 15. Origen ( Greek: Ōrigénēs, or Origen Adamantius, ca 185–ca 3), Marcion "prohibited allegorical interpretations of the scripture". Tertullian disputed this in his treatise against Marcion, as did Henry Wace:

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. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca The Very Reverend Henry Wace ( December 10, 1836 - January 9, 1924) was Principal of King's College London and Dean Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church. [16]

Tertullian, along with Epiphanius of Salamis, also charged that Marcion set aside the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and used Luke alone[17]. Epiphanius (ca 310&ndash320 &ndash 403 was bishop of Salamis and metropolitan of Cyprus at the end of the 4th century AD The Gospel of Luke (Gk Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον) is a synoptic Gospel, and is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the Tertullian cited Luke 6:43-45 (a good tree does not produce bad fruit)[18] 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)[19], in theorizing that Marcion set about to recover the authentic teachings of Jesus. New Wine into Old Wineskins is a saying of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark and Gospel of Luke. 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. Saint Irenaeus (Greek Ειρηναίος (2nd century AD - c 202 was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, Roman Empire (now Lyons France "[20] Tertullian also attacked this view in De Carne Christi. De Carne Christi is a Polemical work by Tertullian against the Gnostic Docetism of Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus

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. For places named after the saint see Saint-Hippolyte Saint Hippolytus of Rome (c [21] However, Ernest Evans, in editing this work, observes:

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. The Masoretic Text ( MT) is the Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible ( Tanakh) A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Antisemitism (alternatively spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism; also rarely known as judeophobia) is the Prejudice against or hostility 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. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ For example, on its web site, the Tawahedo Church of Ethiopia claims to be the only Christian church that is fully free of Marcionism. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in transliterated Amharic: Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is an Oriental NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page 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. Supersessionism ( British English: supercessionism) and replacement theology are particular interpretations of New Testament claims viewing Marcion himself does not appear to be anti-Semitic, rather he rejected Jewish scriptures as irrelevant.

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. A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally 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. The Codex Fuldensis is a Manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. ". Conversely, several early Latin codices contain Anti-Marcionite prologues to the Gospels.

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.

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. This article is about criticisms which are made against the Bible as a source of information or ethical guidance In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. 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. Atheism Agnosticism ( Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds Reason, Ethics and Justice, and specifically rejects the Supernatural [22] 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). Gleason Leonard Archer Jr ( May 22, 1916 – April 27, 2004) was a Biblical Scholar, theologian, educator Norman L Geisler (born 1932 is a Christian Apologist and the co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary outside Charlotte North Carolina. Christian Reconstructionism is a religious and theological movement within Protestant Christianity that calls for Christians to put their faith into action in all

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. [23] 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. Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation [24]

Recently, feminist biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine identified Marcion thought in liberation theology and in the World Council of Churches in her book, "The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus". Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Amy-Jill Levine is E Rhodes and Leona B Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Department of Religious Studies and Graduate Liberation theology is a school of Theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic The World Council of Churches ( WCC) is an international An Orthodox Jew, she regards Marcionism as an antisemitic heresy that is alive and present in Christianity today and a serious obstacle towards greater Christian-Jewish understanding.

See also

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. ^ McDonald & Sanders, editors, The Canon Debate, 2002, chapter 18 by Everett Ferguson, page 310, quoting Tertullian's De praescriptione haereticorum 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Christology (from Christ and Greek grc -λογία -logia) is a field of study within Christian theology which is concerned with For the term in politics describing socialist movements see Autonomism Antinomianism (from the Greek ἀντί, "against" Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems Antitactæ, or antitactici, in antiquity were a Sect of gnostics who believe that God was good and just, but that one of his creatures This article discusses the traditional views of the two religions and may not be applicable all adherents of each Crucifixion (from Latin crucifixio, noun of process crucifixio, from perfect passive participle crucifixus, fixed to a cross from Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation. " Page 308, note 61 adds: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible testamentum [Latin for testament]. "
  6. ^ Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. Adolf von Harnack ( May 7, 1851 &ndash June 10, 1930) was a German theologian and prominent church historian 1, ch. 5, p. 269
  7. ^ Gnostic Society Library presentation of Marcion's Antithesis
  8. ^ Center for Marcionite Research presentation of The Gospel of Marcion
  9. ^ Mead 1931.
  10. ^ Harnack, idem. , p.271
  11. ^ Article on Adolf Von Harnack
  12. ^ Harnack, Origin of the New Testament, appendix 6, pp. 222-23
  13. ^ Interview with Bart Ehrman about Lost Christianities
  14. ^ The Evolution of the Pauline Canon by Robert Price
  15. ^ Price
  16. ^ Wace's article on Marcion
  17. ^ 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. John Knox (c 1510 – 24 November 1572 was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian [1]
  18. ^ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 1.2
  19. ^ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 4.11.9
  20. ^ Against Heresies, 1.27.3
  21. ^ Tertullian Adversus Marcionem ("Against Marcion"), translated and edited by Ernest Evans
  22. ^ Biblical Atrocities, compiled by Donald Morgan
  23. ^ The Antithesis, by Dr. On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis ( commonly called Against Heresies (Latin Adversus haereses,) is a five-volume work Carroll R. Bierbower.
  24. ^ The Human Jesus and Christian Deism

References

External links

Dictionary

marcionism

-noun

  1. (Christianity) A Christian heresy akin to but distinct from gnosticism which rejected the validity of the Old Testament and essentially denied the Trinity, regarding God the Father as an inferior demiurge, and that Jesus had nothing to do with the First Person of the Trinity.
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