The Influence of Marcion on the Formation of the New Testament Canon

Markus Vinzent

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Chapter 6 The Influence of Marcion on the Formation of the New Testament Canon

In: The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research

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Markus Vinzent

Markus Vinzent
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 131–155

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004751071_008

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Abstract

This essay reviews the various suggestions that have been made about Marcion’s place in the development of the New Testament canon. It is apparent that older and even more recent suggestions are based on the long apologetic tradition that started with Irenaeus of Lyon that Marcion was a heretic and, typically for this sort of culprit, was rightly denounced as having distorted and cut down the canonical New Testament and even those writings that he had retained in his collection. Mention is made of the contrasting position of those scholars who had become skeptical of the apologetic denigration of Marcion’s dealing with the New Testament writings, yet still accepted his portrayal as a heretic. As the sources show, they do not allow us this anachronism, but point to a different role of Marcion in the process of canonization, a role that Hans von Campenhausen had already seen a few decades ago. It is suggested in this essay that Marcion’s collection was the earliest of its kind, bringing together one gospel and ten Pauline Letters—and it was this collection that was the first to carry the title of “New Testament.” Moreover, it was the only collection that was credited this title up into the third century, when the title was transferred to the collection which today is known as the canonical New Testament. Yet, already, Marcion’s collection, as his preface shows, was a response, criticizing those four “plagiarisms” of the one Gospel by authors who pseudonymously named their products according to apostles and disciples of apostles (Matthew, John, Mark, Luke). The process, thus, seems to be a complex procedure of mutual interactions between closely related scholars of the second century, borrowing from each other and also competing with each other in gathering memories and in creating a basis for the identity formation of the novel form of Jewish practice, now called “Christianity.”

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The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research

Series: Texts and Editions for New Testament Study, Volume: 21

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004751071

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 10 Mar 2026

Subjects
- Biblical Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 The Formation of the Canon

Part 2 The Components of the Canon

Part 3 The Witnesses of the Canon

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Chapter 6 The Influence of Marcion on the Formation of the New Testament Canon

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The New Testament Canon in Contemporary Research

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