In most of the world, it would be unthinkable for the syndics of the country's two leading university presses to commission a new vernacular edition of the Bible. Yet in the middle of the twentieth century, such a project was still imaginable to the grey men of Oxford and Cambridge University Presses.

The result is the unforgettable New English Bible.

The presence of two giants of biblical criticism linger like strong, classic perfume in the pages of this Bible: Oxford's G. Driver and Cambridge's C.H. Dodd, venerable figures of Old and New Testament interpretation, respectively.

The project's brief to think all pertinent new thoughts is evident from the very first verse: In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void ...' Driver's understanding of creation as an ordering of pre-existing material rather than the creation ex nihilo of the magisterium is there to be discerned. He would take a daring tack throughout the Old Testament, Dodd following his precedent with a somewhat more conventional touch.

The language throughout is fresh. Witness John 1.1: 'When all things began, the Word already was. The Word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was.' In two sentences, Dodd and his colleagues take a discernible step in the direction of the pre-systematized text.

Bible reading in the English-speaking world would not be particularly helped if the New English Bible were its only text. Yet such readers would be notably impoverished if the NEB were not within arm's reach.