Alexander H. Pierce

Marcion

History & Biography

“In attempting to remove Marcion from the long shadow of Adolf von Harnack, Litwa aims to undermine any and all heresiologically inflected interpretations of Marcion on the grounds that they are inescapably reductionistic. In addition to offering an interesting reconstruction of Marcion's life and thought, Litwa provocatively proposes that present-day Christians would do well to carry on Marcion's legacy by rejecting any hint of divine terror or violence. The Old Testament and biblical passages containing any trace of divine violence, Litwa argues, should be "decanonized." That is, they should by no means be received as divinely inspired. Litwa suggests further that Christians' attempts to account for divine violence in the Bible must be supplanted in favor of Marcion's Gospel of the wholly good God according to which Jesus's Father cannot be identified with the God of Israel in the Old Testament. In short, Litwa reinvigorates Marcion in order to venerate him and the legacy he putatively ought to have among Christians today.”

The Last Enemy to Be Destroyed

Theology

“At a time when we take great pains to avoid facing the reality of death, Hawkins invites his readers to lay hold of the biblical witness concerning the place of death in the economy of salvation. Just as death entered by means of Adam’s sin, so is it overcome by the victory of Christ on the cross who promises life everlasting to those he gathers into his mystical body. At once substantive and accessible, this devotional text is an ideal companion for the Lenten season.”