{"id":9520,"date":"2023-09-15T19:14:40","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T00:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abudinen.com\/blog\/?p=9520"},"modified":"2023-09-15T19:14:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T00:14:41","slug":"bruce-m-metzger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abudinen.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/15\/bruce-m-metzger\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce M. Metzger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bruce Manning Metzger<\/strong>\u00a0(February 9, 1914 \u2013 February 13, 2007) was an American\u00a0biblical scholar<\/a>,\u00a0Bible translator<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0textual critic<\/a>\u00a0who was a longtime professor at\u00a0Princeton Theological Seminary<\/a>\u00a0and Bible editor who served on the board of the\u00a0American Bible Society<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0United Bible Societies<\/a>. He was a scholar of Greek,\u00a0New Testament<\/a>, and New Testament textual criticism, and wrote prolifically on these subjects. Metzger was an influential New Testament scholar of the 20th century.[1]<\/a>[2]<\/a>[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was elected to the\u00a0American Philosophical Society<\/a>\u00a0in 1986.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Metzger was born on February 9, 1914, in Middletown, Pennsylvania<\/a>, and earned his BA (1935) at Lebanon Valley College<\/a>.[5]<\/a><\/sup> Metzger had strong academic training in Greek before enrolling in Princeton Seminary, and in the summer prior to entering the Seminary, he completed reading through the entire Bible consecutively for the twelfth time.[6]<\/a><\/sup> He received his ThB<\/a> in 1938 at Princeton Theological Seminary<\/a>, and in the autumn of 1938 began teaching at Princeton as a Teaching Fellow<\/a> in New Testament Greek<\/a>. On April 11, 1939, he was ordained<\/a> in the United Presbyterian Church of North America<\/a>,[7]<\/a><\/sup> which has since merged with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) and is now known as the Presbyterian Church (USA)<\/a>. In 1940, he earned his MA<\/a> from Princeton University<\/a> and became an instructor in New Testament<\/a>. Two years later, he earned his PhD (“Studies in a Greek Gospel Lectionary (Greg. 303<\/a>)”), also from Princeton University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1944, Metzger married Isobel Elizabeth Mackay, daughter of the third president of the Seminary, the Scot, John A. Mackay<\/a>.[8]<\/a><\/sup> That year, he was promoted to Assistant Professor. In 1948, he became Associate Professor, and full Professor in 1954. In 1964, Metzger was named the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature. In 1969, he was elected to membership in the Catholic Biblical Association<\/a>. In 1971, he was elected president of both the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas<\/a> and the Society of Biblical Literature<\/a>. The following year, he became president of the North American Patristic Society.[9]<\/a><\/sup> Metzger was visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge<\/a> in 1974 and Wolfson College, Oxford<\/a> in 1979. In 1978, he was elected corresponding fellow of the British Academy<\/a>, the Academy’s highest distinction for persons who are not residents in the United Kingdom. In 1986, Metzger became a member of the American Philosophical Society<\/a>.[10]<\/a><\/sup> At the age of seventy, after teaching at Princeton Theological Seminary for a period of forty-six years, he retired as Professor Emeritus<\/a>. In 1994, Bruce Metzger was honoured with the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by the British Academy<\/a>. He was awarded honorary doctorates<\/a> from Lebanon Valley College<\/a>, Findlay College<\/a>, the University of St Andrews<\/a>, the University of M\u00fcnster<\/a> and Potchefstroom University<\/a>. “Metzger’s unrivaled knowledge of the relevant languages, ancient and modern; his balanced judgment; and his painstaking attention to detail won him respect across the theological and academic spectrum.”[11]<\/a><\/sup> Conservative evangelical scholar Daniel B. Wallace<\/a> described Metzger as “a fine, godly, conservative scholar, although his view of biblical authority is not quite the same as many other evangelicals.”[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after his 93rd birthday, Metzger died in\u00a0Princeton, New Jersey<\/a>, on February 13, 2007. He was survived by his wife Isobel, who would die at the age of 98 on July 27, 2016 in Princeton, New Jersey,[13]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0as well as their two sons, John Mackay Metzger (b. 1948)[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup>\u00a0and Dr. James Bruce Metzger (1952-2020).[14]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broos and commentaries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metzger edited and provided commentary for many Bible translations and wrote dozens of books. He was an editor of the United Bible Societies<\/a>‘ standard Greek New Testament, the starting point for nearly all recent New Testament translations. In 1952, he became a contributor to the Revised Standard Version<\/a> (RSV) of the Bible, and was general editor of the Reader’s Digest Bible<\/em><\/a> (a condensed version of the RSV) in 1982. From 1977 to 1990, he chaired the Committee on Translators for the New Revised Standard Version<\/a> (NRSV) of the Bible and was “largely responsible for … seeing [the NRSV] through the press.”[15]<\/a><\/sup> He considered it a privilege to present the NRSV\u2014which includes the books referred to as Apocrypha<\/a> by Protestants, though Roman Catholics<\/a> and Eastern Orthodox<\/a> consider them deuterocanonical<\/a>\u2014to Pope John Paul II<\/a> and Patriarch Demetrius I of Constantinople<\/a>.[15]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to his scholarly contribution to New Testament studies is his trilogy: The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration<\/em> (1964; 2nd ed., 1968; 3d enlarged ed., 1992); The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations<\/em> (1977); The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance<\/em> (1987).[16]<\/a><\/sup> The first volume of a series that he founded and edited, New Testament Tools and Studies,<\/em> appeared in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metzger’s commentaries often utilize historical criticism<\/a> and higher criticism<\/a>, which attempt to explain the literary and historical origins of the Bible and the biblical canon<\/a>. Metzger says that the early church saw it as very important that a work describing Jesus’ life be written by a follower of or an eyewitness to Jesus, and considered other works such as The Shepherd<\/em> of Hermas<\/a> and the Epistles of Clement<\/a><\/em> to be inspired but not canonical.[17]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In discussing the canon, Metzger identifies three criteria \u201cfor acceptance of particular writings as sacred, authoritative, and worthy of being read in services of worship…\u201d, criteria which were \u201cgenerally adopted during the course of the second century, and were never modified thereafter\u201d, namely, orthodoxy (conformity to the rule of faith), apostolicity, and consensus among the churches.[18]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He concludes that, \u201cIn the most basic sense neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead they came to recognize and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.\u201d[19]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books<\/p>\n\n\n\n