Marcion's program was to excise the judging Yahweh from what we now know as the New Testament, leaving only the loving, forgiving Jesus. It was born out of an apparent desire to edit the religion into something he found palatable.
My larger point is that the religion of unconditional love has already been invented, as has Paul's detour. An appreciation for this history would save a student from a lot of intellectual blind alleys.
And aptly, it is Marcion's failure to grapple with Christianity's continuity with Judaism, to appreciate the history and deal with its paradoxes, that led him into heresy. His heresy led him all the way to publishing a version of the Bible with the parts he didn't like cut out.
My larger point is that the religion of unconditional love has already been invented, as has Paul's detour. An appreciation for this history would save a student from a lot of intellectual blind alleys.
And aptly, it is Marcion's failure to grapple with Christianity's continuity with Judaism, to appreciate the history and deal with its paradoxes, that led him into heresy. His heresy led him all the way to publishing a version of the Bible with the parts he didn't like cut out.
Paul's post here felt very similar to me.