The latest Human Bible podcast is up - the fourth so far - and here's a chance to get 'up to speed' with an introduction to one of the most influential but under-appreciated figures in the early church, Marcion (Lil' Mark). Biblical raconteur Bob Price also delves into the inspired erotica of the sultry Song of Solomon, asks about just how accurate Jesus' predictions of The End were, and just how amazing grace is in the Calvinist tradition.
Not to be missed!
You can also hear Philip Harland (York University, Toronto) talking about Marcion in a much more academic way here. This appears to be the audio of a lecture.
In Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offers to give them to Jesus if he will only worship him. He told Jesus that he owned it all "and to whomsoever I will I give it".
ReplyDeleteNow, as we all know, the kingdoms of the world (and everything else) belongs to Yahweh, i.e., according to the OT scriptures. So, is this a Marcionite doctrine and Yahweh is actually the devil (the demiurge)?
If so, it makes sense when Jesus said that the Jews were "of your father, the devil", i.e., Yahweh. Was Yahweh a liar from the beginning as the gospel writer says Jesus said? Well, he told Adam that in the day he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would die. But, instead of dying, Adam gained the knowledge of good and evil. So...yeah.
So then, was Marcion right about the god of the old testament being a demiurge (devil)? Nope. Marcion was just as wrong as Tertullian, the father of "orthodoxy" was. Neither one knew what in the hell they were talking about. They were both talking about things supernatural and, therefore, unknown and unknowable.
I don't understand how people can think that they know something about a god that in all probability doesn't exist and can't exist.
Yes, I do. I used to think I knew something about this god too, but, I came to realize that it wasn't my knowledge but someone else's - the "knowledge" of some people who wrote a book and have been dead for a long, looong time.