Word.ws English Dictionary

Marcionism

UK/ˈmɑːʃiənɪzm/US/ˈmɑrʃiəˌnɪzəm/

Marcionism noun: the teachings of Marcion of Sinope and his followers, a docetic form of early Christianity often but not universally considered Gnostic that rejected the spiritual authority of the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament) and the disciples and apostles other than Paul as serving the Demiurge.

Noun

Marcionism (uncountable)

  1. (historical) The teachings of Marcion of Sinope and his followers, a docetic form of early Christianity often but not universally considered Gnostic that rejected the spiritual authority of the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament) and the disciples and apostles other than Paul as serving the Demiurge.
    • Similarly, in Work on Myth, Blumenberg once again makes a plea for Marcion being regarded as Gnostic... and makes no attempt to define Marcionism's relation-difference to Valentinianism... It is important to see what is at stake here... For in Marcion the truncation of the biblical text is not...2001, Cyril O'Regan, Gnostic Return in Modernity, page 62
    • Gnosticism and Marcionism offered two possible futures for the Jesus cult.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 127
  2. General rejection of the Old Testament, its God, and its teachings.
    • In the year 144, the church declared Marcion of Sinope, a rich shipping magnate and part-time theologian, a heretic for declaring the God of the Hebrew scriptures to be inferior to the God of the New Testament. But despite this condemnation, popular Marcionism has continued ever since. You hear...2013 October 7, Giles Fraser, “How the Mail Got It Wrong, Again...”, in The Guardian

Examples of Marcionism in a sentence

  • Similarly, in Work on Myth, Blumenberg once again makes a plea for Marcion being regarded as Gnostic... and makes no attempt to define Marcionism's relation-difference to Valentinianism...2001, Cyril O'Regan, Gnostic Return in Modernity, page 62:
  • But despite this condemnation, popular Marcionism has continued ever since.2013 October 7, Giles Fraser, “How the Mail Got It Wrong, Again...”, in The Guardian:

Origin of Marcionism

From Marcion + -ism.

Questions about Marcionism

What does Marcionism mean?
Marcionism means the teachings of Marcion of Sinope and his followers, a docetic form of early Christianity often but not universally considered Gnostic that rejected the spiritual authority of the Hebrew Tanakh (Old Testament) and the disciples and apostles other than Paul as serving the Demiurge.
How do you use Marcionism in a sentence?
Similarly, in Work on Myth, Blumenberg once again makes a plea for Marcion being regarded as Gnostic... and makes no attempt to define Marcionism's relation-difference to Valentinianism...
What part of speech is Marcionism?
Marcionism is a noun.
How do you pronounce Marcionism?
Marcionism is pronounced /ˈmɑrʃiəˌnɪzəm/ (US).

Words near Marcionism in the dictionary

  1. Marcinko
  2. Marcinkos
  3. Marcinkowski
  4. Marcinkowskis
  5. Marcion
  6. Marcionism
  7. Marcionist
  8. Marcionists
  9. Marcionite
  10. Marcionites
  11. Marcionitic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Marcionism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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