Marcionism is the dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144 CE (115 years and 6 months from the Crucifixion, according to Tertullian's reckoning in Adversus Marcionem, xv). Marcionism reflects a different understanding of the roots of Christian belief than that commonly held today. To the early church, the source of the most persistent persecution of Christians was from Judaism,[1] and they understood that the Old Testament's theology of wrath was different from th ...

Including:

• Marcionism - History
• Marcionism - Teachings
• Marcionism - Criticisms
• Marcionism - Footnotes

Read more here: » Marcionism: Encyclopedia - Marcionism

Including:

• Marcion of Sinope - History
• Marcion of Sinope - Teachings

Read more here: » Marcion of Sinope: Encyclopedia - Marcion of Sinope

The ecclesiastical organization known as Marcionism began with the excommunication of Marcion from the Church of Rome around 144. Marcion was a rich Christian from Pontus, the son of a bishop; he arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after Bar Kokhba's revolt. 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. Marcion used his personal wealth, returned to him after he'd donated it to the Church of Rome, to fund an ecclesiasti ...

See also:

Marcionism, Marcionism - History, Marcionism - Teachings, Marcionism - Criticisms, Marcionism - Footnotes

Read more here: » Marcionism: Encyclopedia II - Marcionism - History

An ordained bishop of Sinope, Asia Minor, he declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. This was nothing new to the church of his contemporaries. Indeed, a great number of early church fathers attacked Judaism; for example, St John Chrysostom believed that the Jews "worship the devil." Marcion went much further. First, he rejected the whole Bible but the Gospel of Luke. Second, he adopted belief in two gods. One was good, the other was the Jewish god who wa ...

See also:

Marcionism, Marcionism - History, Marcionism - Teachings, Marcionism - Criticisms, Marcionism - Footnotes

Read more here: » Marcionism: Encyclopedia II - Marcionism - Teachings

144 - Events. Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Patriarch Polycarpus II to Patriarch Athendodorus Change of era name from Hanan (3rd year) to Jiankang era of the Chinese Han Dynasty Change of emperor from Han Shundi to Han Chongdi of the Chinese Han Dynasty Marcion of Sinope is excommunicated; a sect (Marcionism) grows out of his beliefs. Construction of the Antonine Wall is completed. 144 - Births. Including:

• 144 - Events
• 144 - Births
• 144 - Deaths

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History of Christianity Jesus of Nazareth The Apostles Ecumenical councils Great Schism The Crusades Reformation The Trinity God the Father Christ the Son The Holy Spirit The Bible Old Testament New Testament Apocrypha The Gospels Ten Commandments Sermon on the Mount Christian theology Salvation · Grace Christian worship Christian Church Catholicism Orthodox Christianity Protestantism Christian denominations ...

Including:

• Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the Jewish Bible
• Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the New Testament
• Antinomianism - Antinomianism among Christians
• Antinomianism - Footnotes

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Little is known about Apelles (mid-2nd century). He was a disciple of Marcion, probably at Rome, but left (or was expelled from) the Marcionite society. Tertullian tells us (De praescriptione haereticorum 30) that this was because he had become intimate with a woman named Philumena who claimed to be possessed by an angel, who gave her 'revelations' which Apelles read out in public. He then went to Alexandria, where he developed his doctrine, a modified Marcionism, which (according to Tertullian) admitted that Christ possessed true human flesh but continued to den ...

Read more here: » Apelles gnostic: Encyclopedia - Apelles gnostic

150 - Events. First and only year of Heping of the Chinese Han Dynasty The Earliest atlas (Ptolemy's Geography) was made (approximate date). Marcion of Sinope produces his own version of the Gospel of Luke (approximate date). Antoninus Liberalis writes a work on mythology (approximate date) The Middle Culture period of Mayan civilization ends (approximate date). 150 - Births. Monoimus, Arab gnostic (approximat ...

Including:

• 150 - Events
• 150 - Births
• 150 - Deaths

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The three Pastoral Epistles are books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy) the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy), and the Epistle to Titus. They are presented as letters from Paul of Tarsus to Timothy and to Titus. They are generally discussed as a group, and their individual content is presented here in subsections. Pastoral Epistles - The Epistles. Pastoral Epistles - 1 Timothy. The ...

Including:

• Pastoral Epistles - The Epistles
• Pastoral Epistles - 1 Timothy
• Pastoral Epistles - 2 Timothy
• Pastoral Epistles - Titus
• Pastoral Epistles - Authorship and date
• Pastoral Epistles - Traditional view
• Pastoral Epistles - Critical view
• Pastoral Epistles - Date

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Cerdo was a Syrian gnostic and a heretic to the Catholic Church in the early times of the Catholic Church. Cerdo started as a follower of Simon Magnus. He taught around the same time as Valentinus and Marcion, estimated around 130 AD. He taught that there were two gods, one that demanded obedience while the other was good and merciful. According to Cerdo, the former was the god of the Old Testament who had created the world. He also said that the latter god was superior b ...

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The Pauline epistles are those books in the New Testament that are traditionally attributed to Paul of Tarsus. The authorship of the Pauline epistles is a subject of much debate. The New Testament contains thirteen letters explicitly ascribed to Paul and one anonymous letter, Hebrews, traditionally attributed to Paul. Nearly every modern scholar agrees that Paul was the author of seven letters, often referred to as the "undisputed epistles" (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon). ...

Including:

• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Criteria used by scholars
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - The undisputed epistles
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Colossians
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Ephesians
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Traditional arguments for Pauline Authorship
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Recent arguments against Pauline Authorship
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Modern rebuttals to arguments against authenticity
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - The Pastoral Epistles
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - Hebrews
• Authorship of the Pauline epistles - History of the Pauline canon

Read more here: » Authorship of the Pauline epistles: Encyclopedia - Authorship of the Pauline epistles

Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from anti = against and thesis = position) means a direct contrast or exact opposition to something. Hell is the antithesis of Heaven, chaos the antithesis of order. In rhetoric, it is figure of speech involving the bringing out of a contrast in the ideas by an obvious contrast in the words, clauses, or sentences, within a parallel grammatical structure, as in the following:---"When there is need of silence, you speak, and when there is need of speech, you are dumb; when p ...

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Some religions believe that the Bible was inspired or received in singular events. Many historians who have analysed the Hebrew Bible and New Testament believe they were written over a long period of time. In addition, various religions assign varying degrees of inerrancy to these Scriptures. Because of this, inconsistencies alleged to be found within the Bible take on an importance in ecumenical and apologetic discussions. Those believing in Scriptural inerrancy sometimes refer to these issues as "difficulties"; some believe th ...

Including:

• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Difficulties in evaluating inconsistencies
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Within the Torah
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Within the Deuteronomic History
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Chronicles and the Deuteronomic History
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Names of God
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Amongst the Gospels
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - The Pauline Epistles
• Inconsistencies in the Bible - Between the New Testament and the Old

Read more here: » Inconsistencies in the Bible: Encyclopedia - Inconsistencies in the Bible

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicized as Tertullian, (ca. 155–230) was a church leader and prolific author during the early years of Christianity. He was born, lived, and died in Carthage, in what is today Tunisia. Tertullian denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical, but later in life adopted views that came to be regarded as heretical themselves. He was the first great writer of Latin Christianity, thus sometimes known as the "father of the Latin Church". He introduced the term Trinity ...

Including:

• Tertullian - Life
• Tertullian - Writings
• Tertullian - General Character
• Tertullian - Chronology and Contents
• Tertullian - Theology
• Tertullian - General character
• Tertullian - Specific teachings
• Tertullian - Moral Principles:
• Tertullian - Footnotes

Read more here: » Tertullian: Encyclopedia - Tertullian

What we know of Marcion comes mostly through his detractors, who are in substantial agreement. The first mention of Marcion was in Justin Martyr's Apologia (I 26), written mid-century, which finds Marcion yet alive and his followers dispersed among many nations. Marcion was the wealthy son of the bishop of Sinope (modern Sinop, Turkey), in Pontus. He is described as nautes, nauclerus, a ship owner, by Rhodon and Tertullian, who wrote about a generation after Marcion's death [1]. The hostile confrontation of Marcion described in ...

See also:

Marcion of Sinope, Marcion of Sinope - History, Marcion of Sinope - Teachings

Read more here: » Marcion of Sinope: Encyclopedia II - Marcion of Sinope - History

Marcionites Followers of Marcion, a reformer of Christianity of the 2nd century who, failing to bend the Church to his views, founded a society of his own in Rome, whence it spread to Asia Minor, gaining great influence and for a time seriously competing with the established Church.

Though often described as a Gnostic, he holds a position rather between the Gnostics and those who sought to establish a less philosophical and more concrete system -- a church. He had known Christianity at a time when the Gnostic teachings still formed a recognized element; but he found the existing Church too far along the path of materialization of metaphysical ideas and adaptation to mundane politics, and he sought to restore the doctrine and ritual to an older, purer form.

He favored the teachings of Paul, whom he regarded as the true interpreter of Christianity, and condemned the Old Testament as being a corrupting influence, while regarding the historical view of the Gospels as a literalization and carnalization of metaphysical allegories and symbolic teaching. His teachings contain many Gnostic elements: man is formed by the God of the Old Testament, who lays upon him laws which he cannot obey, so that he falls under the power of the lower Demiourgos. But another God, the God of Mercy, sends his son into the world to save man. Yet this son appears in the reign of Tiberius and is crucified in Palestine. The lower Demiourgos, the adversary of man and of the God of Mercy, is at the same time an agent of that God.

Among the many varieties of Christianity which had vogue, Marcionism was one of the best attempts to find a workable adjustment between the ancient teachings and the conditions of the world at that time. But the spirit of a declining age prevailed in favor of the Church; the influence of Marcion can be traced for a few centuries, but his association finally lost its identity amid divergences and absorptions into other systems, especially Manichaeism.

(See also: Marcionites, Marcion, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

In the case of Christianity, the controversy arises out of the doctrine of grace, the forgiveness of sins and atonement by faith in Jesus Christ; Christians being released, in important particulars, from conformity to the Old Testament polity as a whole, a real difficulty attended the settlement of the limits and the immediate authority of the remainder, known vaguely as the moral law, see Cafeteria Christianity. If God forgives sins, what exa ...

See also:

Antinomianism, Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the Jewish Bible, Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the New Testament, Antinomianism - Antinomianism among Christians, Antinomianism - Footnotes

Read more here: » Antinomianism: Encyclopedia II - Antinomianism - Antinomianism among Christians

In Protestant, Evangelical, Christian theology, especially in popular versions of the same, the charge of legalism is an accusation of ignorance of the Christian Gospel, or of unbelief. In that context, to apply the criticism of legalism to a theological position or religious attitude, implies that the accused has over-turned the Gospel of salvation through faith and new life in Jesus Christ, and has substituted some principle ...

See also:

Legalism theology, Legalism theology - In the New Testament, Legalism theology - In later Christian theology, Legalism theology - As a Label for Adherence to Manmade Rules, Legalism theology - External link

Read more here: » Legalism theology: Encyclopedia II - Legalism theology - In later Christian theology

Paul of Tarsus, in his Letters, mentions several times that we are saved by the unearned grace of God, not by our own good works, "lest anyone should boast." He used the term freedom in Christ, for example, Galatians 2:4, and it is clear that some understood this to mean lawlessness. For example, Acts of the Apostles 21:21 records James the Just explaining his situation to Paul: "They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not ...

See also:

Antinomianism, Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the Jewish Bible, Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the New Testament, Antinomianism - Antinomianism among Christians, Antinomianism - Footnotes

Read more here: » Antinomianism: Encyclopedia II - Antinomianism - Antinomianism in the New Testament

A number of Biblical passages indicate that the tension between legalism and antinomianism goes back to the very beginnings of Christianity. Jesus directed some of his harshest words at the Pharisees and their accompanying "scribes" and "lawyers," the guardians of the ritual law of Judaism. Matthew 23 is just one of the several sermons Jesus preached against them. The gravamen of Jesus' charge against the Pharisees was that they did, in fact, scrupulously follow the ritual laws of Judaism, but their scrupulousness did ...

See also:

Legalism theology, Legalism theology - In the New Testament, Legalism theology - In later Christian theology, Legalism theology - As a Label for Adherence to Manmade Rules, Legalism theology - External link

Read more here: » Legalism theology: Encyclopedia II - Legalism theology - In the New Testament