International Conference on Patristic Studies, University of Oxford 2011

The International Conference on Patristic Studies has now its own blog where latest news, but also where I gradually (and please be patient with me) will upload all the accepted abstracts and, where available, the bibliographic details, we hope, a useful tool to prepare well for the conference, but also for the future a research tool where to find people, contents and where we can start exchanging information and keep contact.

Next King's Patristic Seminar

Professor Allen Brent is going to speak on "Hellenistic Mythologies and Early Christian Iconography".
Date: 12 May, 1pm
at: Strand Campus, Room S2.30

Professor Allen Brent (on the left, here together with Dr Nicola Spanu, myself and Dr Emanuele Castelli), Co-Investigator of the British Academy Project on 'Early Christian Iconography and Epigraphy', at our research stay in Rome in January/March 2011 - is going to give an insight into our discussion and the progress we are making. We all expect a lively talk and discussion.

Synopsis of Marcion's Gospel, and the Gospels of Luke and Mark

Here follows an updated version of the synopsis between Marcion's Gospel, and the Gospels of Luke and Mark (it is still not the final version, as it changes in those places where I am working on at the moment in writing the commentary - no doubt, Harnack's reconstruction of Marcion's Gospel always has to be consulted, even if one does not always follows his conclusions):
Verses not attested for in Marcion are indicated by ?, pericopes attested as not present in Marcion or Mark are marked -, Verses attested not to have been present in Marcion are indicated by /verse/
(I am deeply grateful for Dieter T. Roth who shared with me his PhD thesis in which he draw up a preliminary list of attested and unattested verses of Marcion's Gospel, and we all await the publication of his book. The following first row is based on his:)

The Apostle’s	Luke		Mark
-	1:1-2:52	Opening	-	-
3:1,?	3:1-6	John the Baptist	1:1-6	John the Baptist
-	3:7-18	John Preaches a Messiah	1:7-8	John Preaches a Messiah
-	3:19-20	The Imprisonment of John	[6:17-20]	The Imprisonment of John
-	3:21-2	The Baptism of Jesus	1:9-11	The Baptism of Jesus
-	3:23-38	The Genealogy of Jesus	-	-
-	4:1-13	The Temptation	1:12-3	The Temptation
-	4:14f.	First Preaching in Galilee	1:14-20	First Preaching in Galilee
4:16,?,23,?, 27,?,29-30	4:16-30	Rejection at Nazareth	[6:1-5]	Rejection at Nazareth
[5:9-11]		[The Call of the Disciples]	1:16-20	The Call of the Disciples
3:1, 4:31-2,	4:31-2	Teaching with Authority	1:21-2	Teaching with Authority
4: ?,34-5a,?	4:33-7	Exorcism of the Capernaum demon	1:23-8	Exorcism of the Capernaum demon
?	4:38-9	Healing Peter's Mother-in-law	1:29-31	Healing Peter's Mother-in-law
4:40-1		Healing the Sick at Evening	1:32-4 [3:11b]	Healing the Sick at Evening
4:42-3		Departing from Capernaum	1:35-8	Departing from Capernaum
?	4:44	Preaching in Judaea	1:39 [3:7b-8]	Preaching in Galilee
5:?,2,?	5:1-8	Miraculous Catch of Fish	-	-
5:9-11		The Call of the Disciples	[1:16-20]	[The Call of the Disciples]
5:12-4,?	5:12-6	Healing a Leper	1:40-5	Healing a Leper
5:17-8,?,20-1,?,24,?,26		Healing the Paralytic	2:1-12	Healing the Paralytic
5:27,?	5:27-8	The Call of Levi	2:13-4	The Call of Levi
5:?,30-1,?	5:29-32	Tax Collectors and Sinners	2:15-7	Tax Collectors and Sinners
5:33-8,?	5:33-9	The Superiority of the New	2:18-22	The Superiority of the New
6:1-5		Lord of the Sabbath	2:23-8	Lord of the Sabbath
6:6-9,?	6:6-11	Healing a Man with a Withered Hand	3:1-6	Healing a Man with a Withered Hand
[6:17-9]		[Healing the Multitudes]	3:7-12	Healing the Multitudes
6:12-6		Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount	3:13-9	Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
6:17-9		Healing the Multitudes	[3:7-12]	[Healing the Multitudes]
[11:14-5,?, 18-22,?]	[11:14-23]	Jesus and Beelzebul	3:20-30	Jesus and Beelzebul
[8:?,20-1]	[8:19-21]	Jesus’ True Family	3:31-5	Jesus’ True Family
6:20-3		The Beatitudes		-
6:24-6		Woes		-
6:27-8		On Love of Enemies		-
6:29-30		On Retaliation		-
6:31,?,34a, ?,35b,36		The Golden Rule		-
6:37-42		On Judging		-
6:43,?,45	6:43-5	The Test of a Good Person		-
6:46		Do as I say		-
6:47		On Self Deception		-
?	6:47-9	Hearing and Doing		-
7:?2,?9,?	7:1-10	The Centurion's Servant		-
7:?,12-6,?	7:11-7	The Widow's Son at Nain		-
7:18-23		John's Question to Jesus		-
7:24-8,?	7:24-35	Words about John		-
7:36-8,?, 44-5,?,47-8, ?,50	7:36-50	The Woman with the Ointment	[14:3-9]	The Woman with the Ointment
8:?,2-3		The Women Collegues		-
8:4,?,8	8:4-8	The Parable of The Sower	4:1-9	The Parable of The Sower
?	8:9-10	On Parables	4:10-2	On Parables
?	8:11-5	The Interpretation of the Sower	4:13-20	The Interpretation of the Sower
8:16-8		The Interpretation of the Sower - The Parable of the Lamp	4:21-5	The Interpretation of the Sower - The Parable of the Lamp
8:/19/;20-5		Jesus' True Relatives	[3:31-5]	Jesus' True Relatives
-	-	-	4:26-9	The Seed and the Harvest
[13:?,19]		The Parable of the Mustard Seed	4:30-2	The Parable of the Mustard Seed
-		-	4:33-4	The Use of Parables
-		-	4:35-41	Stilling of a Storm
8:?,27-32	8:26-39	The Gadarene/Gerasene Demoniac	5:1-20	The Gadarene/Gerasene Demoniac
8:?42b-8,? 9:1-6	8:40-9:6	Jairus' Daughter / a Woman's Faith	5:21-43	Jairus' Daughter / a Woman's Faith
9:1-6		Sending Out the Twelve	6:6-13	Sending Out the Twelve
[4:16,?,23,?, 27,?,29-30]	[4:16-30]	[Rejection at Nazareth]	6:1-5	Rejection at Nazareth
9:7-8,?	9:7-9	Herod's Understanding of Jesus	6:14-6	Herod's Understanding of Jesus
-	[3:19-20]	-	6:17-29	The Death of John
9:?,12-7	9:10-7	The Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand	6:30-43	The Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand
-		-	6:45-52	Walking on Water
-		-	6:53-6	Healings at Gennasaret
-		-	7:1-23	What Defiles a Person
-		-	7:24-30	The Syro-Phoenician Woman
-		-	7:31-7	Another Healing
-		-	8:1-10	Feeding the Four Thousand
[11:29;/30-2/]		[Seeking for Signs]	8:11-3	Seeking A Sign
[12:1]		[On Leaven]	8:14-21	On Leaven
-		-	8:22-6	The Blind Man of Bethsaida
9:18-22		Confession at Caesarea Philippi First Passion Prediction	8:27-33	Confession at Caesarea Philippi First Passion Prediction
9:?,24,?,26a, ?	9:23-7	The Conditions of Discipleship	8:34-9:1	The Conditions of Discipleship
9:28-31a, /31b/,32-5,?	9:28-36	The Transfiguration	9:2-8	The Transfiguration
-		-	9:9-13	The Coming of Elijah
9:?,40-1,?	9:37-42	Healing an Epileptic Boy	9:14-29	Healing an Epileptic Boy
9:?,44,?	9:43-5	The Second Prediction of the Passion	9:30-2	The Second Prediction of the Passion
9:46-8		The Dispute about Greatness	9:33-7	The Dispute about Greatness
?	9:49-50	The Unknown Exorcist	9-38-41	The Unknown Exorcist
[17:1-2]		On Temptations	9:42-8	On Temptations
9:?,54-5,?	9:51-6	The Samaritan Villagers	-	-
9:57-62		The Nature of Discipleship	-	-
10:1,?,4-5,?,7-11,?	10:1-12	Sending Out the Twelve/Seventy	[6:6-13]	[Sending Out the Twelve]
10:?,16	10:13-6	On the Cities of Galilee	-	-
10:?,19,?	10:17-20	The Return of the Seventy	-	-
10:21-2		Jesus' Thanks to the Father	-	-
10:23-4		The Blessedness of the Disciples	-	-
10:25-8		A Tricky Question	[12:28-37]	A Tricky Question
?	10:29-37	The Parable of the Good Samaritan	-	-
?	10:38-42	Mary and Martha	-	-
11:1-4		The Lord's Prayer	-	-
11:5-8		The Friend at Midnight	-	-
11:9-13		On Prayer	-	-
11:14-5,?	11:14-16	Accusations Against Jesus	[3:19-22]	[Accusations Against Jesus]
11:?,18-22	11:17-23	A House Divided	[3:23-30]	A House Divided
?	11:24-6	The Seven Spirits	-	-
11:27-8		Blessed the womb and breasts	-	-
11:29,?	11:29-32	Seeking for Signs	[8:11-3]	[Seeking A Sign]
11:33		Concerning Light	[4:21]	Concerning Light
?	11:34-6	The Sound Eye	-	-
11:37-43,?, 46-8,/49-51/ ,52,?	11:37-54	Against the Pharisees	-	-
12:1		On Leaven	[8:14-21]	[On Leaven]
12,2-5,/6/, ?,8-12		Bold Confession	-	- [cf. 4:22]
12:13-4,?, 16,?,19-20,?	12:13-21	The Parable of the Rich Fool	-	-
12:22-4,?,27, /28a/,?,30-2		On Anxiety	-	-
?	12:33-4	On Treasures	-	-
12:35-41		Be Awake, Be Aware, Be Faithful	-	-
12:42-6		The Faithful and Wise Servant	-	-
12:47-49a,?	12:47-50	The Servant's Wages	-	-
12:51,?,53		Division in Households	-	-
12:?,56	12:54-6	Signs of the Times	[8:11-3]	[Seeking A Sign]
12:57-9		On Murder	-	-
-	13:1-9	Galileans and Fig tree parable	-	-
13:?,14-6,?	13:10-7	Healing a Woman of Infirmity	-	-
13:?,19	13:18-9	The Parable of the Mustard Seed	[4:30-2]	[The Parable of the Mustard Seed]
13:20-1,?	13:20-2	The Parable of the Leaven	-	-
13:?,25	13:23-5	The Narrow Gate	-	-
13:26-8,/29-30/	13:26-30	On Self Deception	-	-
-	13:31-3	Leaving Galilee	-	-
-	13:34-5	Lament over Jerusalem	-	-
?	14:1-6	Healing a Man with Dropsy	-	-
?	14:7-11	Teaching on Humility	-	-
14:12		Invite who invite you in return to be repaid	-	-
14:?,14	14:13-4	Invite the poor	-	-
14:?,16-24	14:15-24	The Parable of the Great Supper	-	-
?	14:25-33	Conditions of Discipleship	-	-
?	14:34-15:2	Of Salt and Light	9:49-50	Of Salt and Light
15:3-10		The Lost Sheep	-	-
-	15:11-32	The Prodigal Son	-	-
16:?,2,?,4-7,?,9a,?,11-2	16:1-12	The Unjust Steward	-	-
16:13-5		Serving Two Masters	-	-
16:16		Violence and the Kingdom	-	-
16:17		The Constancy of the Law	-	-
-		-	10:1-10	Marriage and Divorce
16:18		On Divorce	10:11-2	On Divorce
16:19-31		The Rich Man and Lazarus	-	-
17:1-2		On Temptations	[9:42-47]	On Temptations
17:3		Reproving a Comrade	-	-
17:4		On Reconciliation	-	-
?	17:5-6	On Faith	-	-
?,/10b/	17:7-10	The Servant's Wages	-	-
17:11-2a,/12b-13/,14-9		The Healing of Ten Lepers	-	-
17:20-1		On the Kingdom of God	-	-
17:22,?,25		The Day of the Son of Man	-	-
17:26,?,28,?, 32,?	17:26-37	The Need for Watchfulness	-	-
18:1-3,?,5,?,6,?,7, ?	18:1-8	The Parable of the Unjust Judge	-	-
18:?,10-4	18:9-14	The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican	-	-
18:?,16,?	18:15-7	Jesus Blesses the Children	10:13-6	Jesus Blesses the Children
18:18-23,?	18:18-30	The Rich Young Man	10:17-31	The Rich Young Man
18:/31-3/,?	18:31-4	The Third Prediction of the Passion	10:32-4	The Third Prediction of the Passion
?	[22:24-30]	[Position in the Coming Kingdom]	10:35-45	Position in the Coming Kingdom
18:35-43		Healing Bartimaeus	10:46-52	Healing Bartimaeus
19:?,2,?6,?, 8-10	19:1-10	Zacchaeus	-	-
19:11,?,13,?, 22-3,?,26,?	19:11-27	The Parable of the Pounds	[13:33-7]	The Parable of the Pounds
-	19:28-38	The Entry into Jerusalem	11:1-10	The Entry into Jerusalem
-	19:39-44	The Destruction of Jerusalem	-	-
-	19:45-6	Cleansing the Temple	11:15-9	Cleansing the Temple
?	19:47-8	Jesus teaching in the Temple	11:11	Jesus teaching in the Temple
			11:20-5	Interpreting the Fig Tree
20:1,?,4-8	20:1-8	On the Source of Authority	11:27-33	On the Source of Authority
20:/9-17/,?,19	20:9-19	The Parable of the Wicked Tenants	12:1-12	The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
20:?,24-5	20:20-6	Concerning Tribute to Caesar	12:13-7	Concerning Tribute to Caesar
20:27-31,?, 33-6,/37-8/,39,?, 41,?,44	20:27-44	Concerning the Resurrection	12:18-27	Concerning the Resurrection
[10:25-8]		[A Tricky Question]	12:28-37	A Tricky Question
?	20:45-47	Woes Against the Pharisees	12:38-40	Woes Against the Pharisees
?	21:1-4	The Widow's Gift	12:41-4	The Widow's Gift
21:?,7	21:5-7	Prediction of the Destruction of the Temple	13:1-4	Prediction of the Destruction of the Temple
21:8-11		The Signs of the Parousia	13:5-8	The Signs of the Parousia
21:12-7,/18/,19		The Beginnings of the Troubles	13:9-13	The Beginnings of the Troubles
21:20,/21-2/,?	21:20-4	The Desolating Sacrilege	13:14-20	The Desolating Sacrilege
-		-	13:21-3	The Culmination of the Troubles
21:25-8		The Parousia of the Son of Man	13:24-7	The Parousia of the Son of Man
21:29-31		The Parable of the Fig Tree	13:28-9	The Parable of the Fig Tree
21:32-3		The Time of the Parousia	13:30-2	The Time of the Parousia
21:34-35a,?	21:34-6	Ending to the Discourse	-	-
?	21:37-8	Luke's Summary of the Days in Jerusalem	-	-
[19:11,?,13, ?,22-3,?,26,?]	[19:11-27]	[The Parable of the Pounds]	13:33-7	The Parable of the Pounds
22:1,?	22:1-2	The Conspiracy Against Jesus	14:1-2	The Conspiracy Against Jesus
[7:36-8,?, 44-5,?,47-8, ?,50]		[The Woman with the Ointment]	14:3-9	The Woman with the Ointment
22:3-5,?	22:3-6	Judas Arranges to Hand Jesus Over	14:10-1	Judas Arranges to Hand Jesus Over
22:?,8,?,14	22:7-14	Preparation for the Passover	14:12-6	Preparation for the Passover
22:15,/16/, 17(?),?,19, 20(?),?,22b	22:15-22	The Memorial Meal	[14:22-5]	[The Memorial Meal]
22:?,22b,?	22:21-3	The One Who Hands Jesus Over	14:17-21	The One Who Hands Jesus Over
?	22:24-30	Position in the Coming Kingdom	[10:35-45]	[Position in the Coming Kingdom]
22:?,33-4,	22:31-9	Simon Peter's Denial Predicted	14:26-31	Simon Peter's Denial Predicted
22:/35-7/,?	22:35-8	Two Swords	-	-
22:?,41,?	22:39-46	Jesus in Gethsemane	14:32-42	Jesus in Gethsemane
22:47-8,?, /50/,?	22:47-54a	The Arrest of Jesus	14:43-52	The Arrest of Jesus
22:?,63-4,?, 66-7,?,69-71	22:54b-71	Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Peter's Denial	14:53-72	Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Peter's Denial
23:1		Jesus Delivered to Pilate	15:1	Jesus Delivered to Pilate
23:2-3,?,7	23:2-7	The Trial before Pilate	15:2-5	The Trial before Pilate
23:8-9,?	23:8-16	Jesus Before Herod	-	-
23:?,18-9,?, 22-3,?,25	23:17-25	The Sentence of Death	15:6-15	The Sentence of Death
-		-	15:16-20	The Mocking by Soldiers
?	23:26	Simon of Cyrene	15:20b-21	Simon of Cyrene
?	23:26-31	Daughters of Jerusalem	-	-
23:32-4a, /34b/?, /43/	23:32-43	The Crucifixion	15:22-32	The Crucifixion
23:44-6,?	23:44-9	Jesus' Death	15:33-41	Jesus' Death
23:50-53,?, 55-6	23:50-6	The Burial of Jesus	15:42-7	The Burial of Jesus
24:1,?,3-7,?, 9,?,11	24:1-11	The Women at the Tomb	16:1-8	The Women at the Tomb
?	24:12	Peter at the Tomb	-	-
24:13,?,15-6,?,19,?,21a, ?,25-6,?,30-1,?	24:13-35	The Road to Emmaus	-	-
24:?,37-9, 41-3,47	24:36-49	Jesus Redivivus in Jerusalem	-	-
-	24:50-53	The Ascension	16:19-20, [21]	The Ascension
-		-	16:9-20	The Longer Ending to Mark Only Late MSS

Looking at the structure of both texts, Marcion's Gospel and the Gospel of Mark and that of Luke, there are striking similarities and differences. Here a few preliminary observations:

1) The parallel running of the narrative structure (except some noticeable differences) and the many literal parallels makes some literary dependency between these three texts necessary.
2) Often where Marcion's Gospel, compared to that, for example, of Luke, has an attested lacuna, we also have a lacuna in Mark - or the other way around, depending who knew of who, where Mark has no text, often Marcion has none.
3) These often also accounts for passages of Luke which are unattested for in Marcion, passages that are also missing in Mark.
4) All three text have specific passages in addition to the others which need to be looked at in detail.
5) Passages of surplus of Marcion which are not present in Mark are often dealing with money, wealth, management, leadership and business - imageries and topics which fit Marcion's personal profile as a rich shipowner; in Mark these stories are missing - instead in Mark we find healings and miracles in Galilee which are missing in Marcion.
Just look for yourself, and let me know what you think.