Nag Hammadi Library A collection of fifty-two (mostly) gnostic texts discovered in 1945 in Nag Hammadi, a town in Upper Egypt. The texts, contained in twelve leather-bound papyrus codices, were written in Coptic and have provided an important window into the second-century movement known as gnosticism. Of the fifty-two texts, perhaps the most significant for NT scholars was the Gospel of Thomas, which is widely viewed as the earliest and most important of the noncanonical gospels. Also significant is the Gospel of Mary, since it provides information concerning gnostic views related to women. See also gnosticism, gnōsis; Gospel of Thomas.
narrative criticism Methodology that examines the narrative literature of the Bible as “story” and uses contemporary categories developed for the analysis of the novel and other narrative literature. Narrative criticism of the NT arose in the 1970s and ’80s, especially as a corrective to the atomistic approaches of historical criticism (source, form, and redaction criticism), which examined the history and development of the text rather than viewing it as a literary whole. For most narrative critics, the final form of the text is all that matters. Narrative critics study plot, characters, and settings within the narrative world of the text. They speak of implied authors (the author as discerned from the narrative alone), narrators (the voice one hears telling the story), and implied readers (an imaginary reader who responds appropriately to the narrative strategy). They also examine the many literary devices—repetition, inclusio, chiasm, intercalation, foreshadowing, and so on—used to carry the story forward. See also implied author; implied reader.
narrator See implied author.
Nephilim The first mention of Nephilim comes in Genesis 6:4, where they are the offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men.” They are described as “heroes of old, men of renown” (NIV). This text is one of the most enigmatic passages in all of Scripture, and thus proper caution should be exercised in interpreting it. There are questions about the identity of the sons of God (angels, people from the line of Seth, powerful lords) and the daughters of men (human women, people from the line of Cain, lower-class women) and about the identity of the Nephilim (the term means “falling ones”), their offspring. The fact that a later tribe of people of “great size” are given the name (Num. 13:33) may signify that these earlier Nephilim were tall.
Nestle-Aland text See critical text.
Nevi’im (sometimes spelled Nebi’im or Neviim) The second of three parts of the Hebrew Bible (see also Ketuvim; Pentateuch). Nevi’im is translated “Prophets” and may be divided into two parts, the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets).
New American Standard Bible (NASB) A revision of the American Standard Version (ASV), produced by the Lockman Foundation of La Habra, California. The NASB was initiated in part because some conservatives perceived the Revised Standard Version (RSV) as liberal. The NT of the NASB was published in 1963, and the full Bible in 1971. A revision was released in 1995. The NASB is one of the most formally equivalent (“literal”) English versions available today. See also formal equivalent translation.
new hermeneutic Movement that began in the mid-1960s, especially through the work of Ernst Fuchs and Gerhard Ebeling, who in turn were influenced by the philosophical framework of Martin Heidegger and the existentialist biblical scholar Rudolf Bultmann. The new hermeneutic acknowledges the historical position of the text and the legitimacy of historical-critical methods but also affirms the social and cultural gap between the original readers and the modern readers and the subjective and culture-bound viewpoint of the interpreter. Each reading of the text represents a new and unique language event and an existential encounter with the word. See also Bultmann, Rudolf Karl; historical criticism.
New International Version (NIV) A new Bible version (not a revision) sponsored by the New York Bible Society (subsequently called the International Bible Society and now Biblica). The NT appeared in 1973, and the full Bible in 1978. A revision was released in 1984 and again in 2011. The translation was originally done by approximately one hundred biblical scholars and is maintained by the fifteen-member Committee on Bible Translation. The NIV was the first contemporary English version to eclipse the King James Version (KJV) in sales. Its popularity is due in part to its mediating translation philosophy, somewhere between formal and functional equivalence. See also formal equivalent translation; functional equivalent translation; King James Version (KJV).
New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) See Jerusalem Bible.
New Jewish Publication Society (NJPS) translation of the Jewish Bible A modern translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Christian OT). Previously referred to as the New Jewish Version (NJV), this version was published by the Jewish Publication Society in parts, beginning in 1969 and being completed in 1985. It replaces the 1917 version of the Jewish Publication Society (abbreviated JPS). The NJPS is not a revision, however, but a completely new translation from the Hebrew. (The old JPS was an adaptation of the Revised Version and the American Standard Version.) The text follows the Hebrew order of books rather than that found in most English versions (which follow the order of the Greek Septuagint). The Hebrew order is Torah (the five books of Moses), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings); hence the acronym Tanak (Tanakh in the title of the NJPS edition). See also Tanak.
New King James Version (NKJV) A revision of the King James Version (KJV) initiated by Arthur Farstad and sponsored by Thomas Nelson Publishers of Nashville, TN. The NT was published in 1979, and the full Bible in 1982. The NKJV is unique among contemporary Bible versions in that it follows the Textus Receptus, the Greek text that lies behind the KJV. Footnotes in the NKJV alert readers to places where the Textus Receptus differs from either the majority of manuscripts (Majority Text) or the critical Greek text utilized by most other English versions (UBS Greek NT; Nestle-Aland Greek NT). The NKJV is one of the most formally equivalent (“literal”) versions among contemporary English versions. See also formal equivalent translation; King James Version (KJV); Textus Receptus.
New Living Translation (NLT) A totally new translation in the tradition of The Living Bible (1971), published in 1996. A new edition of the NLT followed in 2004. While The Living Bible was the work of one person, Kenneth Taylor, the NLT was a committee work involving eighty-seven scholars from a variety of denominations. The Living Bible was a paraphrase, meaning a simplification of another English version—the American Standard Version (ASV). The NLT, though following the idiomatic spirit of The Living Bible, is an original translation from the Hebrew and Greek. Its translation methodology is dynamic equivalence (now more commonly referred to as functional equivalence), meaning it seeks the closest natural equivalent in English for Hebrew and Greek words and phrases. See also formal equivalent translation; functional equivalent translation; Living Bible, The.
new perspective on Paul A scholarly movement away from a traditional perspective on Pauline soteriology, especially as explicated by the Protestant Reformers. The movement was initiated by E. P. Sanders in his work Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977). Sanders argued that the Judaism of Jesus’s day was not legalistic and governed by works righteousness, as the apostle Paul claimed. It was rather a religion of grace. God graciously chose Israel and made a covenant with the nation. Obedience to the law was not a means of salvation, which came by grace, but was rather the means by which Israel maintained its covenant relationship with God. Sanders coined the term “covenantal nomism” to describe this perspective. Paul, Sanders claimed, came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. If Jesus was the way of salvation, then the Jewish law could not be. As Sanders put it, Paul argues backwards, from solution to plight. The solution is that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior. If this is true, there must be a problem with Israel’s present situation (the plight). Paul claims this problem is legalism. Israel is trying to be saved by works.
Sanders’s perspective has been picked up and modified by others. J. D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright, for example, argue that Sanders is essentially right about Judaism, but wrong about Paul. The “works of the law” that Paul rejects are not legalistic works trying to earn righteousness. They are, rather, the “identity markers” (or, “boundary markers”) of what it means to be Jewish, including circumcision, Sabbath observance, and dietary laws. Paul is essentially arguing that you don’t need to become Jewish in order to become a Christ follower. Scholarship today runs the gamut, from those who reject outright the new perspective on Paul to those who accept it in whole or in part. See also Wright, Nicholas Thomas.
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) A revision of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) produced under the auspices of the National Council of Churches and published in 1990. Princeton NT professor Bruce Metzger served as the chairman of the translation committee. The NRSV follows the translation philosophy of the RSV, which is generally formal equivalent. The NRSV was one of the first English Bible versions to consistently utilize gender-inclusive language for masculine generics in Hebrew and Greek. The NRSV is one of the most popular versions among academics in the field of biblical studies. See also formal equivalent translation; Revised Standard Version (RSV).
new (second) quest for the historical Jesus Movement launched in the early 1950s by Ernst Käsemann and other former students of Rudolf Bultmann. Whereas Bultmann’s skepticism had resulted in a nearly complete rejection of the search for the historical Jesus (in favor of an existential encounter with the Christ of faith), these former students (now professors) asserted that the quest was legitimate and that it was possible to say something historically about the identity of Jesus. Yet because they were operating from the same modernist worldview and antisupernatural skepticism as Bultmann, the portrait of Jesus most of these scholars found was minimalistic. For most, Jesus was little more than a failed apocalyptic prophet. See also Bornkamm, Günther; Bultmann, Rudolf Karl; Käsemann, Ernst; quest for the historical Jesus; third quest for the historical Jesus.
Nile River The longest river in the world (ca. 4,150 miles), it begins in the mountainous region of central Africa and flows northward, eventually through Egypt, where at its northernmost point it divides into many channels (the so-called Nile Delta) that flow into the Mediterranean Sea. Every year after the snow melts in the mountains of central Africa, the Nile floods, spreading good soil through the valley. Beginning in antiquity, the floodwaters were extended by irrigation projects. This feature of the Nile allowed for the surplus that funded the development of early civilization in the Nile Valley beginning at the end of the fourth millennium BC. Due to the flow of the Nile from the south to the north, southern Egypt is called Upper Egypt and northern Egypt is called Lower Egypt. See also Egypt.
nomina sacra Latin for “sacred names” and referring to the practice, followed by early copyists of the Greek Bible, of abbreviating divine names, usually with the first and last letter of the name. For example, “God” (ΘΕΟΣ, theos) would be abbreviated ΘΣ (ths), and “Jesus Christ” (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, Iēsous Christos) would be abbreviated ΙΣ ΧΣ (Is Chs). A line would be drawn across the top of the abbreviation to identify it as a nomen sacrum (sg.).
northern kingdom Upon the death of Solomon (ca. 931 BC), the ten northern tribes rejected his son, Rehoboam, as king and proclaimed Jeroboam, a former official in Solomon’s cabinet who had been a political refugee in Egypt, as their ruler. This kingdom lasted until the Assyrians defeated them in 722 BC.
Northwest Semitic A branch of Semitic languages that includes Hebrew and languages that, in terms of their linguistic structure, are most similar to Hebrew. These include Eblaite, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and a number of other, less frequently attested languages like Moabite. Northwest Semitic is more distantly related to South Semitic (Arabic) and East Semitic (Akkadian) languages. The closer a language is to Hebrew, the more helpful it is for our understanding of Hebrew. See also Akkadian; Arabic; Aram, Aramaic; Eblaite; Hebrew language; Ugaritic.
Noth, Martin (1902–68) German OT scholar in the mid-twentieth century. Along with Gerhard von Rad he utilized tradition-historical criticism in the study of the Bible. He studied the historical traditions closely and was an architect of the theory that Samuel-Kings developed a Deuteronomic perspective on the history of Israel. He also helped develop the immigration theory of Israel’s entry into the promised land. See also Deuteronomic/Deuteronomistic History; immigration model; tradition-historical criticism; von Rad, Gerhard.
Nunc Dimittis Latin title given to Simeon’s song of praise in Luke 2:29–32. The phrase means “now dismiss” and comes from the first two words of the Latin version of the hymn. The Nunc Dimittis is one of four hymns of Luke’s infancy narrative, all of which pick up key Lukan themes. The others are Mary’s Magnificat (1:46–55), Zechariah’s Benedictus (1:68–79), and the angels’ Gloria in Excelsis (2:14). The Nunc Dimittis is spoken by the righteous and devout Simeon, who comes to the temple in Jerusalem, having been informed by the Holy Spirit that he will not die before he sees the Lord’s Messiah. The hymn is spoken on the occasion of Joseph and Mary’s presentation of the baby Jesus to the Lord. Its main theme is the arrival of God’s salvation, which will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to [God’s] people Israel” (2:32). See also Benedictus; Magnificat.
Nuzi Ancient city from the mid-second millennium BC associated with Yorghan Tepe, located on the Tigris River in what is today Iraq. Excavations during the 1920s and ’30s uncovered about five thousand tablets. These tablets have been much discussed in regard to the patriarchal history, since some of the social customs have been related to action in Genesis 12–36. See also patriarchal history.