Marcionism
Rejection of the Old Testament God and radical dualistic canon reduction
Marcion of Sinope taught a radical dualism that severed Christianity from Judaism, asserting that the wrathful, vengeful Creator God of the Old Testament (the Demiurge) was an inferior deity completely separate from the supreme, loving Father revealed in Jesus Christ, discarding the entire Old Testament and purging the New Testament down to an edited Gospel of Luke and ten letters of Paul.
Historical Context & Significance
Excommunicated by the presbyters of Rome in 144 AD, Marcion established a rival network of churches across the Mediterranean, which impelled the early church to solidify the fourfold Gospel canon and affirm the Old Testament as divine revelation.
Genealogical Lineage & Splits
This movement or council is an early root foundation with no preceding parent split in the dataset.
Theological & Hermeneutical Coordinates
Primary Scripture Proof-Texts
Key biblical passages central to this tradition's exegesis and historical debates.
Connected Theological Perspectives & Debates
Universal Christian confession that God Almighty is the sole Creator of all things visible and invisible out of nothing (*creatio ex nihilo*).
Unanimous agreement across all Christian communions on the 27 books of the New Testament as divinely inspired canonical scripture.
Universal confession that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was raised for our justification according to the Scriptures.
Universal Christian confession that Holy Scripture is divinely inspired, supremely authoritative, and completely trustworthy for knowing God and receiving salvation.