The New Testament, Its background, Growth, and Content

by Bruce M. Metzger

Short A comprehensive introductory study to the New Testament, written primarily for school and college students. With clarity and freshness Metzger presents the results of modern scholarship in New Testament study.

Genres: Theology, Reference, New Testament, Religion, Christianity, Church History, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar 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 is widely considered one of the most influential New Testament scholars of the 20th century.[1][2]

Reviews

[Cole Shiflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son’s gone back to college. He left this book lying around on his bedroom floor, so I decided to read it. After all, I’m leading a Bible study on the book of Mark on Tuesday mornings. Knowing more about the New Testament, Its Background, Growth and Content, can only help.

Since the book was clearly a college text book I wasn’t sure how far I’d get. After all, college texts can be really slow to read. But I actually finished the book in two days and could scarcely put it down.

Since I grew up with a “Catholic” Bible, I was fascinated to learn more about the history of intertestament times and the Maccabean revolt. The insights into all the different groups of people in Judea at the time of Christ help bring a lot of the Gospel stories and Christ’s teachings to life. And the information on local customs, in action and in speech, are truly amazing.

Interesting examples included the use of Judean overstatement (as opposed to British understatement I suppose), and picturesque speech (logs and specks in peoples’ eyes). Rhythm and puns that we miss in translation were quite fascinating too. And the insights into how texts were collected, combined, used and preserved make the whole question of where our New Testament comes from much more interesting and well-grounded, besides providing a logical background to modern arguments about “hidden” and “lost” books.

I liked the fact that the author didn’t shy away from difficulties. He doesn’t assume that every word in some favorite translation is perfectly preserved, but instead looks at how the translations were made, how changes crept in, and how well-researched the analysis of those changes is. I’ve always known that the historical evidence for the Bible rivals and probably beats that for the Roman documents I studied in Latin in school, but it was nice to see the arguments so clearly laid out.

I really enjoyed this book. I don’t know that I’m ready to take an exam on it, and I probably don’t want to go back to college to find out. But I’m glad my son left it lying around.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

All other NT introductions are junk when compared to Metzger's work. I can't believe I had to read lesser works by lesser authors over the course of my studies. What a waste when this book was available. According to Wikipedia: "Bruce 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 one of the most influential New Testament scholars of the 20th century."

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one. This is a seminary text.

[Braeden Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the New Testament. Metzger explores the Greco-Roman World, the life of Jesus, the Gospels, The Apostolic Age, The letters of Paul, the NT Canon, and the text of the NT! I particularly found the chapter on the Historical Jesus quite useful. I highly recommend this volume for scholars, pastors, and laymen alike.

[Dave Betts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a beneficial book. The final few chapters included the sort of information you'd find in countless books on the New Testament. However, the first four or five chapters were massively insightful and outstandingly presented, making it more than worth the price of the book alone.

[Salvador Blanco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metzger is a model theological writer. He packs so much insightful info in appropriate amounts of writing. Definitely read this for a great NT survey.

Can’t wait to use the glossary in the back for years to come!

[Thomasn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda dragged a bit .... superfluous detail about the various historical events seemed somewhat excessive and ultimately less interesting.

[Michael Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very concise, yet thorough, introduction to the New Testament.

[Will Stanard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The historical background of the Greco-Roman world was really helpful and interesting!

[Camden Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid overview of background, growth, and context of New Testament. Accomplishes exactly what it set out to do.

[Lara Simone Bhasin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very helpful book! It is an excellent overview of the background, content, and transmission of the New Testament.

[Parker Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the New Testament from a premier scholar of the 20th century. It's difficult to perceive what Metzger's viewpoints were, and he seems skeptical at times; still worth the read.

[Drew Van Gorder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curious about how the New Testament came to be, was written, and then how the canon was formed? So was I until I read this book! It's a phenomenal read! You'll go through a pack of highlighters before you set it down! With great clarity and detail, Bruce Metzger lays out the story of the composition of the new testament. The history is thorough and accurate. One of the things that was particularly unique about this book was that, even though Bruce Metzger was an astute and very well known biblical scholar, the wording of this book was all together readable by just about anyone. Great read!

[Spacek Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author gives a good historical background to the New Testament of the Bible. He ends the book with a quote by William Barclay, "It is the simple truth to say that the New Testament books became canonical because no one could stop them doing so." This quote sums up the work of the Holy Spirit. A lot of good information was presented in this book with human authors questioned. No doubt skeptics look to the Bible and see it written by men. The Christian sees the Bible written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit and reads it as truth revealed in faith.

[David Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Bruce Metzger's books because he so nice and easy to read, which can be rare when it comes to scholarly books about the bible. You don't have to have a theology degree (I don't) to understand the stuff he talks about. An example of what he talks about is the difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, which had simply been groups of people in the bible who seemed to be against Jesus. I now have a better understanding of why.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction, successful at presenting the material to the level of an educated layman. Bruce is scholarly and evangelical, and responsibly handles dating, criticism, etc., and ably summarizes the background and content of the NT. The early chapter on the intertestamental period is very valuable in its brevity. Slightly dated but hard to beat for a NT intro.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book and a great introduction into the New Testament as history. I couldn't give it 5 stars as it seems as if it was trying to give too much information in a short textbook. That aside, I learned a lot from this book and I feel that the lesson of "trust, but verify" will serve me well in my education as well as life in general.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting overview. Nothing too deep.

[Wyatt Houtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful discussion as history of background and times of the NT.