The Marcionite Prologues to the Epistles of Paul According to Hermann Detering, "The first scholar in Germany to brand as "inauthentic" not only the Pastoral Epistles, but also the Epistles to the Colossians, the Ephesians, Philemon and even the Philippians, was the founder of the so-called "Tübingen School," F. C. Baur (1792-1860). Baur considered only four Epistles still Pauline, the so-called Hauptbriefe: that to the Romans, the two to the Corinthians and that to the Galatians. Most German critics felt that Baur had gone too far, but not far enough for Hegel's pupil Bruno Bauer (1809-1882). "In his Kritik der paulinischen Briefe (Criticism of the Pauline Epistles), published in 1850-1852, Bauer contested the authenticity of the lot of the Pauline Epistles and characterized them as products of the "Christian self-confidence" of the second century, written by various authors."–Hermann Detering, "The Dutch Radical Approach to the Pauline Epistles" Bauer felt that the influence of second century Gnosis was present, particularly in the Epistles to the Corinthians which along with influences of Acts and the Gospel of Luke made them more at home in the second century. "Bauer further noticed in the Principal Epistles a string of contradictions as regards content, stylistic errors, and formal failings, which he regarded as an indication of their inauthenticity. Bauer, who at the same time contested the historicity of Jesus, constituted a serious provocation for the German theological world and in 1842 he was removed from his office of lecturer in theology."–Hermann Detering, "The Dutch Radical Approach to the Pauline Epistles" One of the most important arguments raised by Bauer is the fact that Paul's writings are too influenced by, what the Church taught to be a second century heresy, Gnosticism. How could Paul's first century writings reflect a theology which had as yet not been created? Also disturbing is Paul's claim in "Acts" to be of the tribe of Benjamin. "Paul's claim to being of the tribe of Benjamin may relate to a general genre of such claims in the Diaspora, but it also illustrates the superficial ease with which such claims could be passed off on credulous and relatively unschooled audiences. By the time Paul lived the tribe of Benjamin had been long extinct, having been abosorbed by the tribe of Judah after the Babylonian exile. It is more likely that Paul derives the claim to Benjaminite birth not from any actual genealogical link, but from the simple fact of his Hebrew namesake "Saul" being from the tribe of Benjamin."—Robert Eisenman, "Paul as Herodian" However, most disturbing is the fact that although Paul wrote his material before the gospel accounts were written, it was still over twenty years after the crucifixion and yet Paul, a contemporary of Jesus, knows nothing about Jesus of Nazareth. What Paul does is superimpose a real live flesh and blood person into the kabbalistic primordial man Adam Kadmon who he refers to as Jesus Christ. His references to a crucifixion or hanging are brief and not in context with the rest of his delivery. The Prologues Prologue to the Epistle to the Romans: "The Romans are in the regions of Italy. They had been reached by false apostles and under the name of our Lord Jesus Christ they were led away into the law and the prophets. The apostle calls them back to the true evangelical faith, writing to them from Corinth." Prologue to the Epistle to the Corinthians: "The Corinthians are Achaeans. And they similarly heard from the apostles the word of truth and then were subverted in many ways by false apostles, some led away by the verbose eloquence of philosophy, others by a sect of the Jewish law. He calls them back to the true and evangelical wisdom, writing to them from Ephesus through Timothy." (Apollonius' companion Damis was called Timotheus by the Thessalonians) Prologue to the Epistle to the Galatians: "The Galatians are Greeks. They at first accepted the word of truth from the apostle, but after his departure they were tempted by false apostles to be converted to the law and circumcision. The apostle calls them back to the faith of truth, writing to them from Ephesus." Prologue to the Epistle to the Philippians: "The Philippians are Macedonians. They persisted in the faith after the word of truth was accepted, nor did they receive false apostles. The apostle praises them, writing to them from Rome, from prison, through Epaphroditus." Prologue to the Epistle to the Colossians: "The Colossians, they too are Asians, just as the Laodiceans. And they themselves1 had been reached by pseudo-apostles, nor did the apostle himself approach them, but even them2 he corrects through an epistle. For they had heard the word from Archippus, who also accepted the ministry to them. The apostle therefore, already arrested, writes to them from Ephesus." Prologue to the Epistle to the Thessalonians: "The Thessalonians are Macedonians in Christ Jesus who, after the word was accepted, still persisted in the faith in the persecution by their fellow citizens; furthermore, they did not receive those things which were said by the false apostles. The apostle praises them, writing to them from Athens." Prologue to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians: "To the Thessalonians he writes and makes note to them concerning the last times and of the detection of the adversary. He writes from Athens." Prologue to the Second Epistle to the Titus: "He warns and intructs Titus concerning the constitution of the presbytery and concerning spiritual conversation and heretics to be avoided who believe in the Jewish scriptures." These are the most pertinent of the prologues and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Marcion was the final author of the original 9 Pauline Epistles. For this reason most scholars believe that the Pastorals were second century compositions written to unify Paul with the Orthodox Church. Nobody knows who wrote Hebrews. The cities where Paul delivered his epistles most definitely establish his link to the Essene, all of the mentioned cities were where the sect had established monasteries. The Roman imprisonment mentioned is not that of the fictitious Paul, but of Apollonius by the Roman Procurator Felix. Since similar prologues to the pastorals differ in style it is quite possible that they had not as yet been written during the lifetime of Marcion. The adversarial apostles mentioned indicate the competition for converts between the original Nazorean sect represented originally by Simon (Peter) and the apostles of the Romans, Apollonius, Lucius and Damis. The translations are by Ben C. Smith @ http://www.textexcavation.com/marcioniteprologues.html. There are 2 other names that comes into play here, first the conspirators in Rome had to tie Paul to the Gospel Jesus and Jerusalem. They searched the history books of Josephus, but could not find a Paul. So, they crafted Paul a Jew from Tarsus out of Jospehus' references to a Saul an avaricious Herodian aristocrat, then they included episodes from the life of, late first to early second century, heretical Jewish Rabbi Elisha ben Abuiah. They added the miraculous conversion from the life of the heretical Jewish Rabbi, known as Aher (traitor), to the mix thus giving Paul divine authority. It was Rabbi Elisha who was known from Jewish writings as the persecuter of the so-called Christians (Nazoreans). The idea that the first century Paul (Apollonius) would have persecuted Christians is ludicrous as the Christian religion was of his own creation. Paul who is a non-historical person is a second century fabrication by Marcion. However, the conflation of the lives of these 3 figures to create the Christian evangelist Paul may have been the product of Irenaeus and the Orthodox Church in an attempt to ressurect Paul, known as Simon Magus during the first century, who had fallen into serious ill repute particularly among Jewish Christians. Although Christians today are unaware of events from the life of Jesus, outside of the gospels, it was well known then that Apollonius and not Jesus was the Christ. Alas, however, since he was of Greek heritage, he could not have been the Jewish Messiah. Although most scholars believe that the genealogies in Matthew were added by Judaizing Christians, it is my belief that it was the Flavians who were responsible for these additions as they wanted their soter figure to be not only the Christ, but also the Jewish Messiah to end all Jewish Messiahs. The Gospel of Luke was not written by the Luke (Lucius) who knew Paul (Apollonius) but by the second century satirist Lucian, who is also credited with having written the first 5 chapters of Acts of the Apostles. Since the originals written by Apollonius were lost or destroyed it is impossible to say exactly what was written, but we can rest assured that the basic structure must have been the same or Joseph Atwill would not have been able to connect them to the writings of Josephus and Barbara Thiering would not have been able to decipher her pesher. Real Paul Table of Contents