February (Web-only) 2007

ARTICLE TOOLS

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We were studying Eusebius at Princeton in the summer of 1976 when suddenly a man ran into the class, interrupting Professor Metzger's lecture. As was his way, Metzger quietly stopped what he was doing and asked how he could help the breathless man.

The man said, "Dr. Metzger, I have here the earliest copy of the Gospel of Mark in Syriac!" Metzger smiled and asked politely: "Do you mind if I have a look?"

The man handed over the manuscript, beaming—the great expert on ancient Christian manuscripts was about to validate his discovery, or so he thought.

After less than a minute, Bruce Metzger handed the manuscript back and said, "Well, it's very interesting, but a Syriac copy of Mark, it is not. It's a 6th-century manuscript in Boharic of no particular notoriety." As the Bible says, the man's countenance fell, and he left the room quietly.

The anecdote encapsulates a couple of Professor Metzger's enduring and endearing qualities. First, he was unfailingly polite and kind as part of his Christian witness. Second, he had an absolutely second-to-none encyclopedic mind. I remember asking him for some leads on a paper I was writing for him. He looked down at the table, closed his eyes, and you could almost hear his mind sifting through index cards. He gave me 8 to 10 exact references, to both well-known and obscure articles, from memory. I knew I was in the presence of greatness, of a Christian scholar who had devoted his life to helping us know early Christianity and its manuscripts better.

Bruce Metzger was someone special in my own life as well. I had been offered a full-ride scholarship to a particular seminary, but had also been accepted elsewhere. I came to his office and asked him where I should go for a good evangelical ...