Delightfully written, and yet quite disturbing.  For there’s all too much truth in what Carl Trueman is saying.  The ancient heresies are alive and well, and Marcionism does lurk underneath much of modern American Christianity, not least among conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists.

But unlike the famous radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds about a Martian invasion of Earth, I don’t think this cleverly written piece will inspire mass hysteria.  For the Marcions are no aliens from another planet.  They’ve been living among us for a very long time, and we’re totally at home with them.

David Handy+

The author sums up by stating,

” So what will be the long-term consequences of this Marcionite approach to the Bible? Ultimately, I think it will push ‘the God who is there’ back into the realm of the unknowable and make our god a mere projection of our own psychology and our worship simply into group therapy sessions where we all come together to pretend we are feeling great. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - take that identity away and what do we have left? As the OT is the context for the NT, so the neglect of OT leaves the NT as more or less meaningless. As our reading, our sermons, and our times of corporate worship neglect and, sometimes, simply ignore the OT, we can expect a general impoverishment of church life and, finally, a total collapse of evangelical Christendom. Indeed, there are mornings when I wake up and think it’s already all over, and that the church in the West survives more by sheer force of personality, by hype and by marketing ploys rather than by any higher power. We need to grasp once again who God is in his fullness; we need to grasp who we are in relation to him; and we need teaching and worship which gives full-orbed expression to these things - and this will only come when we in the West grow up, ditch the designer gods we build from our pick-n-mix Bible where consumer, not Creator, is king, and give the whole Bible its proper place in our lives, thinking and worship. Think truncated thoughts about God and you’ll get a truncated God; read an expurgated Bible and you get an expurgated theology; sing mindless, superficial rubbish instead of deep, truly emotional praise and you will eventually become what you sing. “

Of particular interest is his statement ,

“We need to grasp once again who God is in his fullness; we need to grasp who we are in relation to him; and we need teaching and worship which gives full-orbed expression to these things….”

As Anglicans we might add that “ full-orbed expression ”  includes liturgy expressing devotion, obedience and respect and the Sacraments which engage us directly and spiritually with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit .

As Anglicans we might also add that the sentence from Professor Trueman is worth quoting in full:

“We need to grasp once again who God is in his fullness; we need to grasp who we are in relation to him; and we need teaching and worship which gives full-orbed expression to these things - and this will only come when we in the West grow up, ditch the designer gods we build from our pick-n-mix Bible where consumer, not Creator, is king, and give the whole Bible its proper place in our lives, thinking and worship.”

Amen.  I don’t think Prof Trueman would disagree that his comment applies to our liturgical life as well, but I suspect he would disagree that it is in any way limited to it.

Yes, as David Handy+ observes, the desire to take only so much of the Bible as we feel comfortable with is found among those two groups “conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists”.  Unfortunately, it is found just as much among other brands of Christianity too! ;o)

#2 and #3,

I agree, and I’m glad you highlighted that incisive and memorable quote. 

And yes, MichaelA, naturally I agree with you that Marcionism is sadly found almost everywhere in the Christian world these days.  Indeed, it is a perennial and especially obvious problem among theological Liberals.  Adolf von Harnack and Rudolf Bultmann were openly and unashamedly Marcionite in their blatant rejection of much of the OT.  My point, of course, was that EVEN among conservative Protestants who profess to be totally committed to the authority of Holy Scripture, the sad reality is that they have often unwittingly caved to the antinominan cultural Zeitgeist and dismissed much of the OT in practice. 

Or to be more honest, I would have to admit that in my over 20 years of trying to preach the gospel, I’ve undoubtedly preached from the OT less often than I should have done.

David Handy+

One ought to point out that the heresiarch Marcion was the initiator of the practice of according the priestly office to women. Once, Marcion traveled to Smyrna and ran into St Polycarp, the Apostle John’s principal successor, who was Bishop of Smyrna. Upon seeing St Polycarp, Marcion asked, “Do you recognize me?” St Polycarp replied, “I recognize you as the firstborn of Satan.”

David Handy+ at #4, my apologies, you are quite right, and of course Prof Trueman was himself directing his comments primarily at his own kind - i.e. conservative evangelicals.  Turning the spotlight on ourselves is not a bad thing.

MichaelA (#6),

No offense taken, I assure you, brother.  I just wanted to make sure the record was clear.

David Handy+