Marcion the gospel of the alien god pdf files

What did marcion believe that made him a dangerous heretic. A native of sinope in pontus, marcion came to rome c. The gospel of the lord, please see the marcion section this document contains five of the original total twentyone chapters. Marcions pioneering role in establishing the earliest christian. Migne, pl 26, 3a, lines 47 also cited in schmid, 240. Strongly antijewish, he distinguished the merely just god of the ot from the loving god and.

While marcion believed that the jewish scripture was a valid, historically accurate revelation from the creator god, apelles apparently believed that the old testament largely consisted of fables and failed prophecies. Reviewed by jordan almanzar, georgaugustuniversitat, gottingen. Marcion s teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144. Marcion contrasted this creating god with the god of jesus, who was nothing less than love and grace. Marcion was influenced by persian dualism or two forces in the universe, one good and one bad, who are constantly fighting it out for supremacy and believed that the creator god who created the material universe was the god of israel, who was a totally different god from the father spoken of in the gospel of christ. Its reconstructed fragments now appear among the new testament apocrypha.

Marcion dealt with the text of pauls letters in the same way as with the text of lukes gospel. One should know that in the pauline corpus of marcion the words and through god the father have not been written, because he wanted to stress his point that christ has not been raised by god the father, but arose spon taneously through his own strength. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. His main argument is that previous scholarship has turned marcion s exegesis of scripture upside down. Gospel of marcion encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. Roth has taken up the ambitious task of reconstructing the gospel portion of marcions bible. Furthermore, the codex format in t he sense that there were. The gospel of marcion, called by its adherents the gospel of the lord, was a text used by the. 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. The site includes the gnostic library, with the complete nag hammadi library and a large collection. Or is marcions view as alien as a martian living on planet earth.

The reception of the canon by the modern church is inhibited, it seems to me, by functional marcionism. For that, he is regarded as the greatest of heretics, or the wisest of the early christian writers, who almost single handedly put the apostle paul on the map. Marcions greatest contribution is the recognition that the god depicted in the old testament is not the one true god, nor the father spoken of by jesus. The evidence of marcion s gospel against an assumed marcionite redaction the historical study of early christianity continues to labor under. Coptic, greek, latin and providing many tools and resources dictionaties, grammars, texts. Contrary to early views that marcion was a gnostic, hoffmann argued that marcion was a man from an earlier time who demonstrates in his theology the living controversies of the early period.

Marcions gospel, compared verse by verse with luke previous page. Bierma, marcion, the gospel of the alien god, durham, labyrinth, 1990, 23. He did not find the inspiration for his doctrine in the teachings of the apostle paul, it is the old testament and its portrait of an inconsistent, vengeful and cruel god. Portrait of a heretic 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. Jesus not the expected messiah and not human marcion s revolutionary thoughts on the identity of god were accompanied by a just as revolutionary idea about the identity of jesus and his relationship to god. 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. The evidence of marcions 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. Article in journal or book, angus john brockhurst higgins, the latin text. Marcion came under the influence of the gnostic teacher cedro who believed that the god of the old testament was different from the god and father of the lord jesus christ.

Theology and christology in marcions gospel redaction, tyndale bulletin 44. Marcion, apostolikon, marcions gospel, antitheses, two gods, tertullian, rome. The sect which he founded spread widely, and was for a time a serious menace to the church. The written account of the life of jesus christ, preserved in its original greek by marcion, son of philologus, bishop of sinope. Marcion, who created the first new testament, consisting of a strippeddown version of the gospel of luke and 10 letters of paul, would have made christianity a religon of love rather than a mixture of judgment and grace. By adapting numerous userfriendly formatting techniques, roths reconstruction guides the reader easily through seven levels of confidence throughout the entire text of marcions gospel. The churchs scripture and functional marcionism daniel l. Marcion believed that the god of the old testament was an evil creator god. Part of a library of materials dealing with gnosis and gnosticism, both ancient and modern. As regards the prophets, it was the outer sacrificial worship, and the deliverance was the idea of jehovahs righteousness.

A scholarly resource for the study of womens religious communities from 400 to 1600 ce. The bible and interpretation marcion and the idea of heresy. God, i thank thee, that i am not as other men are, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this publican. The foreign god and the sudden christ 311 marcion produced an edited version of ten pauline epistles12 and the gospel of luke. Pdf marcion, the bishop in the early church 85160 ad, who was acclaimed as heretic by orthodoxy, was wellknown as having the. T he outlines of harnacks landmark monograph on marcion are well known from summaries and discussions of it as well as through the german original. English reconstruction and translation of marcions version. Marcion, an extract from the history of dogma part 1 part 2 the english translation of marcion and the gospel of the alien god is still under, however the german text which includes harnacks reconstruction of the marcionite bible has risen harnaci the public domain, and is avalible at archive. But it is an event worthy of note for the work to appear in english, where. Marcions teaching was condemned as heresy in the year 144.

Marcion preached that the god who sent jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of judaism. Should we as christians throw out the old testament. The attitude of apelles toward the hebrew scriptures was somewhat different from marcion s view. Sep 04, 2016 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.

About the middle of the second century 140155 he traveled to rome, where he joined the syrian gnostic cerdo. 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. We have no marcion to quote except through material from his sworn enemies. Mead,fragments of a faith forgotten london and benares, 1900. The following introduction to the life and work of marcion is taken from g. Monastic matrix is an ongoing collaborative effort by an international group of scholars of medieval history, religion, history of art, archaeology, religion, and other disciplines, as well as librarians and experts in computer technology.

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. Textual considerations marcion did not provide a title for his evangelion his gospel of the lord, here referred to as mcg, nor did he claim authorship. In the fifteenth year of the reign of tiberius caesar, 2. Furthermore, the codex format in the sense that there were. Jul 16, 2015 on the bad side were the old testament and the god the older book revealed. Pontius pilatus being the governor of judaea, jesus came down to capernaum, a city in galilee, and was. Marcion, the canon, the law, and the historical jesus. He considered himself a follower of paul the apostle, who he believed to have been the only true apostle of. The gospel of the alien god 9781556357039 by adolf harnack, john e. Marcion was a rich shipowner of sinope, the chief port of pontus, on the southern shore of the black sea. 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. The marcionite bible was not divided into old and new testaments like the modern bible, and was dramatically shorter.

Marcion s gospel and the beginnings of christianity professor markus vinzent inaugural lecture professor of the history of theology, kings college london 17 october 2012. Marcion believed that jesus was the savior sent by god, and paul the apostle was his chief apostle, but he rejected the hebrew bible and the god of israel. By 144 ad, at age 34, marcion had caused such a stir, that his teachings were the subject of an investigation and condemnation. The marcionite bible the marcionite bible was assembled by marcion of sinope, sometime in the earlymid second century. Sep 09, 2014 marcions gospel and the beginnings of christianity professor markus vinzent inaugural lecture professor of the history of theology, kings college london 17 october 2012. Marcions gospel, compared verse by verse with luke tricky. 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. After being excommunicated from the church, he took his odd beliefs to asia minor. The text of marcions gospel biblical and early christian. 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.

In any event, this will at least provide the reader a general idea of what marcion s work antithesis may have been like. Marcions gospel and the beginnings of christianity youtube. His life, works, beliefs, and impact paul foster, 2010. However, tertullian and epiphanius lived several generations after marcion, and they assumed the new testament they read already existed in marcion s era. Tertullian five books against marcion the ntslibrary. English reconstruction and translation of marcion s version of to the galatians by daniel jon mahar abbreviations are provided in the right margin to indicate the patristic sources for passages, a system borrowed from paullouis couchoud which he utilised for his translation of marcion s gospel the creation of christ, p. Marcion was critical in the emergence of the catholic church. The new oxford annotated bible with apocrypha city of god the.

It was marcions canon that motivated his enemies to start collection documents into what we now call the new testament. Marcion, by dermot mcdonald, in the history of christianity, at 104105. Aug 05, 2016 marcion is a software forming a study environment of ancient languages esp. Marcion s greatest contribution is the recognition that the god depicted in the old testament is not the one true god, nor the father spoken of by jesus. Marcion was the first, and for karcion long time the only gentile christian who took his stand on paul. Marcion was the son of a bishop of sinope in pontus. Marcion, an extract from the history of dogma part 1 part 2 the english translation of marcion and the gospel of the alien god is still under, however the german text which includes harnack s reconstruction of the marcionite bible has risen harnaci the public domain, and is avalible at archive. As a side note, it would be exciting to see someone replicate his format in an english translation. Ten letters of paul and apparently a short version of luke.