Marcion's canon; the Gnostic gospels

Marcion breaks with Rome and issues a rival canon — smaller, cleaner, more agreeable. Gnostic gospels arrive under apostolic bylines.

In plain words

Marcion issues his own Bible, smaller, cleaner and easier to like, and other gospels appear under apostles' names. Both are attempts to own the text rather than destroy it: editing down and forging a byline, the two tools of every capture that follows.

The mechanism

THE WEAPON CHANGES — Marcion burns nothing; he publishes an edition and invites you to prefer it. The Gnostic texts enter a trusted stream by wearing a name on the cover. Neither move tries to destroy the text. Both try to own it

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: COMMITTED
• Letter eraTHE WITNESSES AND THE TURN 44 to 312 AD
• Plate — Nag Hammadi Codex VII, p. 70 · Nag Hammadi library · Public domain · source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nag_Hammadi_Codex_vii_70_(colour_photo).jpg
• SourcesSECULAR RECORD — patristic responses; the Nag Hammadi corpus