How are they similar to each other and how are they different, Marcion from Sinope and Marcial Maciel Degollado? They are separated by 1800 years in time, but believe me, it’s worth comparing them.
The question does not concern the sphere of private life and I would ask you to omit it in the comments. The comparison is also not a malicious joke with anyone, and as a Roman Catholic I am not going to play any sarcastic games. So stop reading now and think for a moment. Try to answer.
My answer is below.
Both gentlemen were great organizers and leaders.
Maciel Degollado is the “Bill Gates of Catholicism.” At the age of 16 he came up with the idea of creating a new religious community, which he created at the age of 21 and called the “Legion of Christ”, and then at the age of 29 he founded the Regnum Christi movement. Giant enterprises – high schools, colleges, colleges and universities around the world. 30 countries, 120 thousand pupils and students, 700 priests. In Regnum Christi 27,000 members belong to elite circles in their countries. According to conservative estimates, the value of the project is over USD 50 billion, and the huge amount of funds raised from generous donors will never be known.
Marcion from Sinope is the founder of the first known, organized Christian church operating from the 2nd to the 5th century, independent of the Roman community operating in the area from Persia to North Africa and in Italy, Greece and Asia Minor. His competitive network of congregations and incredible missionary success made almost all Christian literary work anti-Marcian between AD 150 and 180. His church was fought in the field of theology for several hundred years! An artificial field that had to be invented for him because there was no other possibility to stop him.
The difference between the two gentlemen is that due to his independence and competitiveness, Marcion was fought in all possible ways, while Marcial was protected for several decades because he knew how to share his wealth and knew his place in the ranks.
End of answer.
Given the scale of their endeavors, I completely do not understand the biblical discussion about Marcion.
Exposing the theology attributed to Marcion by his enemies is simply unnecessary and serves no purpose. Marcion became a competitor of the Roman community after 4 years of cooperation and his project developed faster and more efficiently than any other. Not for theological reasons, but for organizational reasons.
What did Marcion need a written canon for?
A written and multiplied Canon was a great Christian content to be transmitted by an army of lightweights. Great teaching from great minds offered to the public via lightweights. Why? Because that is the most efficient method to reach great coverage, to be first.. Lightweights prepared in a simple and quick way is a must to win missionary competition. Presence is the first step, content development is next.
Mass production of the lightweight missionaries was key to the success of Marcjon’s endeavor. Their theologically limited formation was successful in the mass market. You don’t need sophisticated exegesis of LXX for the mass market. None of the lightweights would be up to a debate with Justin the Martyr, but who cares and what does it matter.
Justin was surely a great theologian, a charismatic orator who valued the spoken over the scriptures. But he was unfit to create and lead an organization, and his students fled to Marcjon. They were escaping not because of theological sophistication, but because they wanted to be well managed and have the satisfaction of doing a good job. This is the secret of a successful organization regardless of the times.
Once you release the mediocre on the market, you need to provide him with preaching material, because he is mediocre and he will not invent the fire himself. He needs to be provided with great authorities and heroes, like the Great Apostle Paul or martyrs. Still the content is too sophisticated for the mass market. So maybe 1 Clement, Ignatius or Shepherd of Hermas. Too clever. Finally, there will be a group of less educated writers, but more courageous ones, who will propose testimonials so awaited and popular among the common people. Such testimonials understandable to everyone: Jesus said, Jesus did, Jesus healed, Jesus teaches, Jesus was born. Taken in the form of simple stories, and beautiful scenes from life.
So …
