Marcion, Apostle of the Unknown God

Marcion and Marcionite churches were the chief rivals to proto-orthodox Christianity in the late second century and third century (hence refutations by Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, etc.). An excellent lecture on Marcion is provided by Phil Harland which I recommend you listen to if you have a spare 36 minutes.

Marcion, Adolf von Harnack, and the OT

Here's a quote from Adolf von Harnack on Marcion and the OT:

"To reject the Old Testament in the second century was a mistake which the Church rightly repudiated; to retain it in the sixteenth century was a fate which the Reformtion could not yet avoid; but to continue to keep it in Protestantism as a canonical document after the nineteenth century is the consequence of religious and ecclesiastical paralysis" (Marcion, 418).

Well not much to say after that one!

Marcion Bibliography

Thanks to Robert Bradshaw who has created an excellent biography of resources on Marcion. Marcion is a figure, known only from the church fathers and his influence on the process of canonisation, who triggered many of the debates that shaped second century Christianity and its approach to the Scriptures.