Marcion and the shaping of the canon
c. 144–5th c.
attested. Marcion's own texts survive only as reconstructions from his opponents. How much he shaped the canon is a scholarly hypothesis, not a settled fact.
Marcion published the first known fixed collection of Christian scripture: one gospel (a shorter Luke) and ten letters of Paul, with the Jewish scriptures rejected. He taught that the God of Israel was a lesser, just creator, distinct from the good Father revealed by Jesus. Opponents answered by defending the Old Testament and a four-gospel, wider canon.
Sides
Marcionite
Leaders: Marcion, Apelles (later diverged)
Only the good God of Jesus is to be worshipped. Scripture is the Evangelion and the Apostolikon, purged of supposed Judaizing additions.
Proto-orthodox
Leaders: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus
One God is both creator and father. The Jewish scriptures are Christian scripture, with four gospels and the apostles.
Councils and places
- Sinope 2nd
- Rome (Marcion's break, c. 144) 2nd
- Lebaba (Marcionite synagogue inscription, 318/319) 4th
Outcome
Marcion was expelled by the Roman church (traditionally 144). The debate pushed the mainstream toward a defined New Testament. Whether Marcion caused the canon or just sped it up is debated (Harnack vs later scholars).
What happened to the losers
Marcionite churches spread widely, from Gaul to Persia, and the Lebaba inscription shows a congregation still active in 318/319. They were suppressed under Theodosian law and absorbed or overtaken by Manichaeism in the East. Theodoret of Cyrrhus claims to have converted eight Marcionite villages in the 5th century.