The last fifty years have seen a considerable shift in emphasis within New Testament scholarship. When the primary task was to establish the text and to discuss the authenticity of the documents, linguistic and historical considerations were foremost. But gradually, as these foundation-tasks were done, it became possible to devote increasing attention to the elucidation of the theological and religious contents of the New Testament, and to see it in the setting of the life and worship of Christian communities.

To be sure, no scholarship worthy of the name had at any time neglected this aspect of New Testament studies; still less can this aspect be examined without the linguistic and historical: that would be to build on sand. Nor can the primary tasks ever be taken as completed once and for all. Foundations need continual re-examination and reinforcement.

Nevertheless, it is for the sake of the superstructure that foundations exist: and it is the superstructure which now rightly claims its due attention. Accordingly, the time seems ripe for a revision of the New Testament volumes of a long-established series of Cambridge biblical commentaries.

Not that the intention is—as yet, at any rate—to replace all the old volumes; still less to belittle those which are selected for replacement. It would be folly to despise a series begun under the editorship of J. J. S. Perowne with a galaxy of eminent collaborators, and maintained at a high standard ever since.