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{{Short description|American biblical scholar (
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Infobox academic
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| main_interests = {{hlist | [[Textual criticism of the New Testament]] | [[New Testament canon]]}}
| workplaces = [[Princeton Theological Seminary]]<!--full-time positions only, not student positions-->
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'''Bruce Manning Metzger''' (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American [[biblical scholar]], [[Bible translator]] and [[textual critic]] who was a longtime professor at [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] and Bible editor who served on the board of the [[American Bible Society]] and [[United Bible Societies]]. He was a scholar of Greek, [[New Testament]], and New Testament textual criticism, and wrote prolifically on these subjects. Metzger was
== Biography ==
Metzger was born on February 9, 1914, in [[Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania|Middletown, Pennsylvania]], and earned his BA (1935) at [[Lebanon Valley College]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.ptsem.edu/index.aspx?id=25769807030|title=A Centennial Tribute to Bruce Metzger: Remembering His Achievements, Influence, and Legacy|date=24 January 2014|publisher=Princeton Seminary|access-date=12 February 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209021650/http://ptsem.edu/index.aspx?id=25769807030|archive-date=February 9, 2014|df=mdy-all}}</ref> 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.<ref>Bruce Manning Metzger, ''Reminiscences of an Octogenarian'' (1997), 12.</ref> He received his [[Bachelor of Theology|ThB]] in 1938 at [[Princeton Theological Seminary]], and in the autumn of 1938 began teaching at Princeton as a [[Fellow|Teaching Fellow]] in [[Koine Greek|New Testament Greek]]. On April 11, 1939, he was [[ordination|ordained]] in the [[United Presbyterian Church of North America]],<ref>Bruce Manning Metzger, ''Reminiscences of an Octogenarian'' (1997), 42.</ref> which has since merged with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) and is now known as the [[PCUSA|Presbyterian Church (USA)]]. In 1940, he earned his [[Master of Arts|MA]] from [[Princeton University]] and became an instructor in [[New Testament]]. Two years later, he earned his PhD ("Studies in a Greek Gospel Lectionary ([[Lectionary 303|Greg. 303]])"), also from Princeton University.
In 1944, Metzger married Isobel Elizabeth Mackay, daughter of the third president of the Seminary, the Scot, [[John A. Mackay]].<ref>Bruce Manning Metzger, ''Reminiscences of an Octogenarian'' (1997), 32.</ref> 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]]. In 1971, he was elected president of both the [[Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas]] and the [[Society of Biblical Literature]]. The following year, he became president of the North American Patristic Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://patristics.org/about/|title=About - NAPS – The North American Patristics Society|first=NAPS – The North American Patristics|last=Society}}</ref> Metzger was visiting fellow at [[Clare Hall, Cambridge]] in 1974 and [[Wolfson College, Oxford]] in 1979. In 1978, he was elected corresponding fellow of the [[British Academy]], 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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=Princeton+Theological+&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |website=American Philosophical Society |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref> At the age of seventy, after teaching at Princeton Theological Seminary for a period of forty-six years, he retired as Professor [[Emeritus]]. In 1994, Bruce Metzger was honoured with the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by the [[British Academy]]. He was awarded [[honorary doctorate]]s from [[Lebanon Valley College]], [[University of Findlay|Findlay College]], the [[University of St Andrews]], the [[University of Münster]] and [[Potchefstroom Campus|Potchefstroom University]]. "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."<ref>James H. Moorhead, ''Princeton Seminary in American Religion and Culture'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012): 434.</ref> Conservative evangelical scholar [[Daniel B. Wallace]] described Metzger as "a fine, godly, conservative scholar, although his view of biblical authority is not quite the same as many other evangelicals."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bible.org/article/inerrancy-and-text-critical-problem-romans-51|title=Inerrancy and the Text-Critical Problem in Romans 5:1}}</ref>
Shortly after his 93rd birthday, Metzger died in [[Princeton, New Jersey]], 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,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-09-07|title=Obituary of Isobel M. Metzger {{!}} The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Prin...|url=https://matherhodge.com/tribute/details/889/Isobel-Metzger/obituary.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907152527/https://matherhodge.com/tribute/details/889/Isobel-Metzger/obituary.html|archive-date=2021-09-07|access-date=2021-09-07}}</ref> as well as their two sons, John Mackay Metzger (b. 1948){{citation needed|date=August 2023}} and Dr. James Bruce Metzger (1952–2020).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newcomertoledo.com/Obituary/191161/Dr-James-Metzger/Toledo-OH | title=Newcomer Family Obituaries - Dr. James B. Metzger 1952 - 2020 }}</ref>
==Books and commentaries==
[[File:Kurt Aland -
Metzger edited and provided commentary for many Bible translations and wrote dozens of books. He was an editor of the [[United Bible Societies]]' 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]] (RSV) of the Bible, and was general editor of the [[Revised Standard Version#Adaptations of the RSV|''Reader's Digest Bible'']] (a condensed version of the RSV) in 1982. From 1977 to 1990, he chaired the Committee on Translators for the [[New Revised Standard Version]] (NRSV) of the Bible and was "largely responsible for ... seeing [the NRSV] through the press."<ref name="SBL">{{cite web|url=http://www.sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=638|title=SBL Publications}}</ref> He considered it a privilege to present the NRSV—which includes the books referred to as [[Apocrypha]] by Protestants, though [[Roman Catholic]]s and [[Eastern Orthodox]] consider them [[deuterocanonical]]—to [[Pope John Paul II]] and [[Patriarch Demetrius I of Constantinople]].<ref name="SBL"/>
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Central to his scholarly contribution to New Testament studies is his trilogy: ''The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration'' (1964; 2nd ed., 1968; 3d enlarged ed., 1992); ''The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations'' (1977); ''The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance'' (1987).<ref>James A. Brooks, "Bruce Metzger as Textual Critic," ''Princeton Seminary Bulletin'', vol. 15, no. 2, new series (1994), 157.</ref> The first volume of a series that he founded and edited, ''New Testament Tools and Studies,'' appeared in 1960.
Metzger's commentaries often utilize [[historical criticism]] and [[higher criticism]], which attempt to explain the literary and historical origins of the Bible and the [[biblical canon]].
In discussing the canon, Metzger identifies three criteria “for acceptance of particular writings as sacred, authoritative, and worthy of being read in services of worship...”, criteria which were “generally adopted during the course of the second century, and were never modified thereafter”, namely, orthodoxy (conformity to the rule of faith), apostolicity, and consensus among the churches.<ref>Bruce M. Metzger, ''The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content'', 3rd ed., rev. and enlarged (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 317–8. And see the detailed discussion in Metzger, ''The Canon of the New Testament'' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), 251–4.</ref> He concludes that, “In 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.”<ref>Bruce M. Metzger, ''The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content'', 3rd ed., rev. and enlarged (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 318. Also see Metzger, ''The Canon of the New Testament'' (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), 287–8.</ref>
He served on the advisory board for ''[[Peake's Commentary on the Bible]]'' (1962), and contributed an article on "The Early Versions of the New Testament." He was co-editor for ''The Oxford Companion to the Bible'' (1993).
==Works==
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*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1946 |oclc=2132643 }}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Introduction to the Apocrypha |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1957 |oclc=361082 }}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=List of Words
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |author2-last=Metzger |author2-first=Isobel M. |title=The Oxford Concise Concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1962 |edition=1st }}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Chapters in the History of New Testament Textual Criticism |series=New Testament Tools and Studies |volume=4 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |date=1963 }}
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*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=The Reader's Bible: condensed from the Revised Standard Version Old and New Testaments |location=Pleasantville, NY |publisher=Reader's Digest Association |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-895-77106-3 |oclc=8817548 }}
*{{cite book|author1-last=Metzger|author1-first=Bruce M.|author-mask=3|title=The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|date=1987|isbn=978-0-198-26180-3|oclc=14188714}}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |author2-last=
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Metzger |editor1-first=Bruce M. |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last=Coogan |editor2-first=Michael D. |editor2-link=Michael D. Coogan |title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1993 |isbn=978-0-195-04645-8 |oclc=27895183 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195046458 }}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: a companion volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament |location=London ; New York |publisher=United Bible Societies |date=1994 |isbn=978-3-438-06010-5 |oclc=683422 |edition=third }}
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*{{cite journal |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=The Meaning of Christ's Ascension |journal=Christianity Today |volume=10 |issue=17 |date=May 27, 1966 |pages=3–4 }}
*{{cite book |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |chapter=Names for the Nameless in the New Testament: A Study in the Growth of Christian Tradition |editor1-first=Patrick |editor1-last=Granfield |editor2-first=Josef A. |editor2-last=Jungmann |title=Kyriakon: Festschrift Johannes Quasten |location=Münster |publisher=Verlag Aschendorff |date=1970 |volume=1 |pages=79–99 }}
*{{cite journal |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Patristic Evidence and Textual Criticism of the New Testament |journal=New Testament Studies |volume= 18 |issue=4 |date=1972 |pages=379–400|doi=10.1017/S0028688500023705 |s2cid=170833089 }} - Presidential Address, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, delivered August 24, 1971, at Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands.
*{{cite journal |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=Literary forgeries and canonical pseudepigrapha |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=91 |issue=1 |date=1972 |pages=3–24 |doi=10.2307/3262916 |jstor=3262916 }} - Presidential address, Society of Biblical Literature, delivered October 29, 1971, in Atlanta, Georgia.
*{{cite magazine |author1-last=Metzger |author1-first=Bruce M. |author-mask=3 |title=How Well Do You Know the Apocrypha? |magazine=Guideposts |date=November 1984 |pages=28–31 }}
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[[Category:1914 births]]
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