H/T to Mr. Andy Underhile for the find. Also, of note, in hardcopy, Adolph von Harnack's classic, Harnack, Adolph von. Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008. 192 pages. Erhman calls it a "classic study" on the life and teachings of Marcion. http://www.amazon.com/Marcion-Gospel-Alien-Adolf-Harnack/dp/1556357036/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384910701&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=harnack+adolph+the+gospel+of+an+alien+god
http://www.marcionite-scripture.info/Marcionite_Bible.htm
The Marcionite Bible
The Marcionite Bible was assembled by Marcion of Sinope, sometime in the early/mid second century; a full 200 years before the compilation of the Bible we now have. The Marcionite Bible was not divided into "Old" and "New" testaments like the modern Bible, and was dramatically shorter. It was divided into two parts, the gospel (or Evangelion) and the epistles of Paul (or Apostolicon). The Marcionites only recognized one gospel as legitimate; it was called The Gospel of the Lord, and it was similar to Luke but significantly shorter. The Marcionite version of the Epistles of Paul was also significantly shorter than the version found in conventional Bibles.
The documents that make up the Marcionite Bible have not physically survived to modern times; all known copies were destroyed by the religious authorities when the Catholics gained political power in the fourth century. In spite of this destruction, the Marcionite Scriptures can still be restored. Many ancient Christian writers quoted from the extensively, described the differences between them and the official version of the scripture, and even wrote commentaries on them. By using these quotations and descriptions we can reconstruct the Marcionite text. We do not have quotations or descriptions of every verse. But, in most places the Marcionite Bible was identical to the corresponding text in the conventional Bible, and the ancient writers who quoted from it focused their attention mainly on the controversial passages where there were significant differences between the two versions. This means that in places where the Marcionite text is not known, it was probably identical to text of the conventional Bible, and so text from the conventional Bible can be used to "fill in the gaps".
The reconstruction work is a painstaking process, and many sections of the Marcionite text are not yet available online. I am working hard to resolve this. Meanwhile, details of texts which are available can be found on this page.
Above: Marcion(left),with the Apostle John, to whom he "brought scriptures from the Pontic brethren..." (10th century miniature from the archives of the Cathedral St.Bravo in Ghent).
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