Biblical scholar Bruce Metzger dies at 93

PRINCETON, N.J. — Bruce Metzger, a revered biblical scholar who was both respected and sometimes criticized for championing the use of modern language in translating the Bible, has died at the age of 93. Metzger, a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, died of respiratory failure Feb. 13 in Princeton, N.J.

He is likely to be best remembered as the editor of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, a work first introduced in 1989 and which eliminated many, though not all, of the Bible’s masculine pronouns. It became the standard text used in many colleges, seminaries and divinity schools. That work was an extension of the Revised Standard Version (RSV), released in its full version almost 40 years earlier. Metzger served on the translation team for the RSV, the first to use material from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Metzger, an ordained Presbyterian minister, was professor emeritus of New Testament at Princeton Seminary at the time of his death. He was a graduate of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa.; Princeton Seminary; and Princeton University.