Marcion presents the life, thought, and work of Marcion of Pontus in its historical, theological, ethical, and liturgical contexts. It distinguishes itself from its competitors by employing a new method: rigorously critiquing heresy reports by means of the testimony of Marcion's scriptures. It devotes attention to the reliable reconstruction of those scriptures, arguing for the chronological priority of Marcion's Gospel over what is now known as canonical Luke. It seeks to overthrow the common heresiological (and sometimes scholarly) portraits of Marcion as a ditheist, a docetist, a world-denier, requiring divorce, and deleting scripture. In so doing, it creates a new portrait of Marcion that is substantially different from everything that has come before.
