Bruce Metzger died on Tuesday. He was 93.
I first heard the name when I read Bart Ehrman’s book Misquoting Jesus last year. Metzger was a leading figure in the world of biblical textual criticism, and the general editor of the New Revised Standard version of the Bible. As it happens, I started reading the 4th edition of Metzger’s 1963 book The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration on Monday. So I was about 30 pages into it when he died. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
I have no real affiliation with the man, but his book is fascinating. I saw one blog yesterday remark that this book should be considered the “standard work” on textual criticism. I have nothing to back that up, but the book certainly is interesting. I have only scratched the surface of textual criticism, but I feel compelled to dig deeper. It’s interesting (and strange, at the same time) seeing ancient variant readings of Biblical passages, and frequently reminds me that, as I said before, God did not write the Bible.
