Matthew Black

Rev Matthew Black (3 September 1908 in Kilmarnock – 2 October 1994 in St Andrews) was a Scottish minister and biblical scholar. He was the first editor of the journal, New Testament Studies.

Life
He was born in Kilmarnock the son of James Black. He attended Kilmarnock Academy.

After earning an M.A. and B.D. in Old Testament at the University of Glasgow, Black then studied at the University of Bonn and returned to the University of Glasgow for his D.Litt.

From 1942 to 1947 he was minister of Dunbarney.

From 1952 to 1954 he was Professor of Biblical Criticism and Antiquities at Edinburgh University and from 1954 to 1978 Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at St Andrews University.

In 1968 he was President of the Society of Old Testament Studies.

He died in St Andrews in Fife.

New Testament work
Together with Kurt Aland, Carlo Maria Martini, Bruce M. Metzger and Allen Wikgren, Black served on the editorial committee that established the Greek text and critical apparatuses in the standard hand editions of the Greek New Testament: the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (26th edition, published by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft first in 1979 and revised in 1983) and the United Bible Societies' The Greek New Testament (3rd edition, published by the United Bible Societies in 1983).

Black was the General Editor and New Testament Editor for the Revised edition of Peake's Commentary on the Bible (1962).

Black served as New Testament Editor for The New Century Bible Commentary series, and contributed the volume on Romans.

Family
He married Ethel M. Hall in 1938.