# Bruce Metzger Passed Away



## Tallen (Feb 14, 2007)

Bruce Metzger died yesterday 2/13/07. If anyone has had any experience with the Greek New Testament in modern times, he has come across Mr. Metzger's work or opinion.

May he rest in peace.


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## RamistThomist (Feb 14, 2007)

My greek prof in college was good friends with Dr Metzger and he mediated Metzger to us.


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## bookslover (Feb 14, 2007)

Tallen said:


> Bruce Metzger died yesterday 2/13/07. If anyone has had any experience with the Greek New Testament in modern times, he has come across Mr. Metzger's work or opinion.
> 
> May he rest in peace.



He had just turned 93 on February 9th. He was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania on February 9, 1914. I have his autobiography, _Reminiscences of an Octogenarian_, published by Hendricksen Publishers in 1997.

He will be best remembered, probably by some folks, as the "evil genius" behind the RSV in 1952.


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## Bladestunner316 (Feb 15, 2007)

93 years is not bad at all!! Hopefully I'll live as long!


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## Chris (Feb 15, 2007)

bookslover said:


> He had just turned 93 on February 9th. He was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania on February 9, 1914. I have his autobiography, _Reminiscences of an Octogenarian_, published by Hendricksen Publishers in 1997.
> 
> He will be best remembered, probably by some folks, as the "evil genius" behind the RSV in 1952.



Now, wait....my KJV-only friends taught me that all people involved in newer non-KJV translation work died horrible violent deaths at a young age....


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## Jerusalem Blade (Feb 15, 2007)

I know that's just tongue-in-cheek, but it perpetuates a stereotype nontheless. As a AV adherent, I must say there are godly men and women who both work on the newer versions, and use them.

Steve


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## govols (Feb 15, 2007)

Tallen said:


> May he rest in peace.



Sidebar, per se. What does that mean anyway?


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## Tallen (Feb 15, 2007)

govols said:


> Sidebar, per se. What does that mean anyway?


 
Well I would think it means that he _ain't in hell_ and is in the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal rest that He gives those in His kingdom. Since I am not the judge of a man's heart, may he rest in peace.  

Otherwise there is no rest and the certainly is no peace.

Blessings.


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## bookslover (Feb 15, 2007)

bookslover said:


> He had just turned 93 on February 9th. He was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania on February 9, 1914. I have his autobiography, _Reminiscences of an Octogenarian_, published by Hendricksen Publishers in 1997.
> 
> He will be best remembered, probably by some folks, as the "evil genius" behind the RSV in 1952.



Here's Metzger on his experiences upon entering Princeton Theological Seminary as a student in Autumn, 1935 (from his autobiography):

_...eighty-five other students enrolled with me in the class of 1938. Three separate dormitories and four eating clubs provided accommodations for a student body of some two hundred and fifty young men. There was no charge for tuition or room rent, but a fee of twenty-four dollars a year was assessed for light and heat. The charge for board in one of the four cooperative student clubs did not exceed six and a half dollars a week. Three years later, the annual charge for room, light, and heat had risen to fifty dollars. The academic year covered thirty-four weeks, which included two weeks of Christmas vacation. Most of the courses for the Bachelor of Theology degree were prescribed; only about 7 percent of the total number of lecture hours during the three years were available for elective courses.

An examination was administered in the opening days of the first semester in order to ascertain a student's knowledge of the Greek language. Those who were judged to be lacking sufficient knowledge were required to take a four-hour course for one semester devoted to the review of Greek grammar; those who had never studied the language were required to enroll in a two-semester course of beginner's Greek. Because of my previous study of Greek I was able to begin the study of Hebrew my first year. After completing the first semester under the patient tutelage of George Handy Wailes (who, among other things, had us memorize the first chapter of Genesis in Hebrew), I was transferred, with a dozen or so other students, to a more advanced section taught by a remarkable linguist, Henry Snyder Gehman...

My professor in New Testament was William Park Armstrong, a cultured Southerner born in Selma, Alabama...Armstrong combined exegetical skills with a critical appreciation of philosophical trends that had influenced the interpretation of the Scriptures. Unlike Dr. Gehman, who would expend considerable energy in lecturing, often in a stentorian voice, Dr. Armstrong spoke rather softly and his words did not always carry to the rear of the classroom...Among Armstrong's mannerisms was his habit of making an occasional wry remark, at which he would raise his eyebrows and sniff once or twice.

Dr. Armstrong's required course in New Testament introduction and exegesis comprised lectures on (1) the language of the New Testament, its relation to antecedent and contemporary Greek, and its distinctive characteristics; (2) textual criticism according to the principles and the history of the text developed by Westcott and Hort; and (3) the canon, involving the fundamental idea, limiting principle, and process of organization in the first three centuries of the church. The lectures on exegesis followed the grammitco-historical method, illustrated by a detailed study of the Greek text of the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans.

Among my other first-year courses...was a lecture on systematic theology under Caspar Wistar Hodge, Jr., the last of the Hodge dynasty at the Seminary. He died during the spring semester, and two of his students (G. Hall Todd and I) were invited to serve as pallbearers at the funeral service...

Following the death of the venerable...Hodge, the Seminary invited Otto Piper to teach theology. Because Piper had taken a stand against Hitler, he was no longer allowed to lecture in his homeland but had fled to Britain from Munster, where he had replaced Karl Barth as professor of theology. It goes without saying that Princeton students found a difference in style and presentation, as well as orientation, from previous lectures in systematic theology. Piper, who had studied under Hans Lietzmann in Germany and had taken his doctorate in ethics at Paris, had an encyclopedic learning. Of him Emil Brunner said, perhaps with a tinge of sarcasm, "Piper knows everything." At any rate, the range of his knowledge was amazing, and he seemed to have a considered opinion on virtually every intellectual topic that was under discussion._


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## Chris (Feb 15, 2007)

> it perpetuates a stereotype



Please forgive me; I didn't consider such when I posted.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Feb 16, 2007)

Forgiven -- and thanks!

Steve


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## staythecourse (Feb 16, 2007)

*2 years ago I'd have never heard of him*

Now I read in Greek II from the NT he helped edit, an arm's length away: an example of "faith to faith" - if I can use that translation. May He rest in peace, as Mr. Clore says.


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