Both could be true; *Ev could be an edited text based on Luke and Matthew, and it could have been written already but then later associated with Marcion.True. I thought (and think still now) that a reasonable position, one worthy of discussion, is the following by Davis Inglis:
I understand that you have implied in the past that this idea is beyond your range of amiable scholarly disagreement.This was going to be a reply to a specific person, but I now think is better as a general response:
First, there is no doubt that Tertullian and Epiphanius provide information regarding differences between the Evangelion, Ev, *Ev, Marcion's Gospel, etc., and Luke. That Ev existed is, I think, undeniable, but there are then two different questions that have to be answered: 1) Did Ev precede or follow Luke? 2) Was Ev written by Marcion?
Early views (e.g. Harnack) that Ev is later than Luke are, IMHO, untenable, given what Marcion would have had to leave in the text of Luke that went against his position. However, by the same logic, if Marcion wrote Ev before Luke existed then why does it not support his own Christology, and instead in places refutes it? Neither position seems tenable, with the only alternative being that Ev was NOT written by Marcion, but nevertheless for some reason became associated with him.
(my bold)
And you would have more credibility citing this idea that Marcion's editing was untenable, if you did not yourself associate *Ev with Marcion's authorship in some sense. If the argument is right, you are wrong too.
I don't necessarily believe that Marcion did all the editing work personally. I'm open to the idea that he had one or more literary assistants to attend to the details based on his overall plan (a little like Josephus and his own reworking of prior historical and scriptural sources in the Antiquities, a little more like ancient text critical work on Homer, neither of which were necessarily a solitary activity without any outside input or delegation).
I am also open to revising these ideas based on evidence.
Statistics: Posted by Peter Kirby — Tue Jan 28, 2025 2:43 pm