The New Testament: Its Background Growth and Content

by Bruce M. Metzger

This text is a classic by one of America's most widely respected New Testament scholars. It provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the New Testament. In a straightforward and understandable style--without distortion or oversimplification--Prof. Metzger closely examines the historical background and content of the New Testament and details the role of scribes and translators in handing the Scriptures down through the centuries. Utilizing the finest modern scholarship, Dr. Metzger looks at the people, societies, and events that produced the New Testament. Palestinian Judaism, Greco-Roman paganism, sources of our knowledge of Jesus Christ, essential aspects of Christ's teaching, sources and chronology of the apostolic age, the work of Paul, the general letters, and the Book of Revelation are all clearly illuminated. The Second edition of this book added an appendix on the formation of the canon of the New Testament and the work of scribes. The third edition will represent a substantial update of the 1965 text based on the New Revised Standard Version. In addition to stylistic changes, the author updates the text regarding research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi tractates. This edition adds a glossary, 30 graphics and photos, and is resized to a larger 6x9 page.

Genres: Theology, Reference, New Testament, Biblical Studies, Religion, Christianity, Church History

370 pages, Hardcover

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.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This introduction to the background, growth, and content of the New Testament was much more interesting and potentially useful than I expected. I'd been under the impression that this leading biblical scholar, as the teacher of Bart Ehrman, was something of a liberal one, but his readings fit, rather, more often with the conservative school. In addition, the work being an introduction would seem to offer little more than basics, but it actually provides some strong readings of the various biblical works.

The first part of the work discusses culture of the time in which the New Testament was written, providing in roughly one hundred pages a summary of Jewish sects and Greek philosophical, as well as the Roman governmental structure. A second section discusses life of Jesus and the literary structures of his various sayings and stories. Metzger than discusses the church's early history and the travels of Paul. A large section summarizes each book of the New Testament and presents theories regarding each work's creation; the summaries sometimes provides a few close readings that are eye-opening. The book closes with a suprisingly conservative view of how the canon essentially self -authenticated long before its actual setting aside and with a discussion of the various translations and their limitations and advantages.

[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.

[Charles Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative book.

I didn't know that scribes, who were frequent opponents of Jesus in the New Testament, were enforcers of the Law of Moses and were also called 'lawyers'. In cases of doubt, it was the scribes who decided what constituted 'work' on the Sabbath. For example, it was legal to walk through an ankle-high grain field on the Sabbath, but if the plants were knee-high there was a danger of brushing against ripened grain seeds and hence threshing some of the grain, which was work, and therefore prohibited. When Paul told the Gentiles that no Jew actually kept the Law, many instances of ludicrous trivia, such as this, as well as more serious breeches, were no doubt in his mind. Everyone apart from Jesus sins; forgiveness and hence salvation is solely by the grace of God.

In discussing Paul's letters, Metzger says that Paul's "acquantance with Peter, James, and other early leaders of the Jerusalem church provided him with information regarding the life and teaching of Jesus. Yet, this isn't what Paul himself tells us. In about AD 48, Paul writes:

"For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:11–12)

[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.